Sheldon Richman sees government-corporate cooperation stealing land from its rightful owners in Africa, riffing off an article from the UK Observer and referencing Mises: As Ludwig von Mises wrote in Socialism : Nowhere and at no time has the large scale ownership of land come into being through the working of economic forces in the market. It is the result of military and political effort. Founded by violence, it has been upheld by violence and by that alone….
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Massive Land Theft Reported in Africa
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Ludwig von Mises scholar Richard Ebeling looks at Mises the policy analyst and advisor, as opposed to Mises the pure economist, over at the Coordination Problem blog : much of Mises’ conception of the general economic order, its workings and requirements, and the institutional and policy “rules” that would help establish and maintain freedom and prosperity did not arise from a pure “a priori” deductive spinning out of implications from the “action axiom.” They are, in many cases, the general theoretical insights and the social institutional and economic policy “wisdoms” derived from living through, acting within, and learned lessons from those momentous and often catastrophic events that shook Europe in the first half of the twentieth century, and particularly as experienced in the everyday reality of Austrian political and economic life during this time….if you had asked him a fiscal, or monetary, or regulatory policy question in the context of his role as analyst at the Chamber of Commerce, he would not have said, and did not simply say, “laissez-faire” – abolish the central bank, deregulate the economy, and eliminate taxes. He accepts that there are certain institutional “givens” that must be taken for granted, and in the context of which policy options and decisions must be worked out. He seemed to usually think with three policy “horizons” in his mind.
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Mises as Policy Advisor
Yesterday a federal judge rejected a constitutional challenge to Seattle’s ban on guns in city parks, noting that the U.S.
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How Sensitive Is Your Park?
No, you aren’t imagining it. There was a time when the Scandinavian countries could reasonably boast that it was in the grim, cold north of Europe that the most liberal, socially tolerant societies were to be found.
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Noted Homophobe Named Norway’s “Role Model of the Year”
Fifty years ago, as it turns out, according to the UK Telegraph : In 1951, a quiet, picturesque village in southern France was suddenly and mysteriously struck down with mass insanity and hallucinations. At least five people died, dozens were interned in asylums and hundreds afflicted.
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CIA Doses French Bread With LSD?
On Tuesday I noted USA Today ’s cover story on the prospects for marijuana law reform. Three recent legislative developments reinforce the impression of growing tolerance (or at least waning repression): On March 2, Hawaii’s Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill that would eliminate criminal penalties for possessing up to an ounce of marijuana, currently a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
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Marijuana Decriminalization Advances
If you watch cable news this weekend (which, if you a normal and well-adjusted person, you probably won’t), you’ll likely hear a lot of discussion about the so-called Slaughter Solution, a procedural manuever that House Democrats are considering in hopes of making it easier to pass health care reform. NRO’s Daniel Foster and Slate’s John Dickerson have posted detailed explanations, but the gist is this: Rather than vote up or down on the Senate bill (which many House Democrats don’t like), the House would instead vote to pass a reconciliation bill that amends the Senate bill. Attached to the reconciliation bill would be a rule that says that once it’s passed, the original Senate bill is automatically considered passed too.
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The Slaughter Solution, And Other Tactics For Passing Health Reform
Writing at Investors Business Daily , Independent Institute economist Robert Higgs argues that government intervention in the economy is strangling private sector investment: The current investment drought does not simply reflect the housing bust that followed the residential investment boom that peaked in 2005. To be sure, real residential investment fell tremendously, by almost 53% from 2005 to 2009, with especially rapid declines the past three years. Yet real nonresidential investment also fell greatly last year, by 18% from its 2008 peak
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How Government Spending Harms Private Investment
Hope springs eternal in the heart of the Connecticut alkie , and for a minute this week it looked like residents of the Nutmeg State ( delicious on Brandy Alexanders !) might finally be able to buy liquor at retail stores on Sunday. Some version of a ban on Sunday sales has been in place in Connecticut since at least 1882 and the state has long been famous for its old-style Blue Laws.
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Connecticut Facing 6,657th Dry Sunday
On March 4, 2010, Jacob Sullum, Nick Gillespie and Virginia Postrel appeared on a special episoode of Fox Business Network’s Stossel devoted to prohibition to discuss drug laws, ridiculous media scare stories, and legalizing markets in human organs. Approximately 30 minutes. Go to Reason.tv for downloadable iPod and audio versions
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Reasoners on The Tube: Jacob Sullum, Nick Gillespie, & Virginia Postrel Talking Drugs, Media Hysteria, and Human Organ Markets on Very Special…
