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
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
CNN has a pretty good review of the pitfalls of foreign aid , looking at how the massive effort in Haiti could end up harming the country in the long run. Given that there are about 10,000 NGOs at work in Haiti right now, and that the United States has already spent $700 million on aid to Haiti, it would be good to have some signs that it’s not, you know, making things worse. What’s the right way to provide aid?
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NGOs Falling Short in Haiti
From our April issue, Senior Editor Michael C. Moynihan reports on the scene in Massachusetts as he followed Republican state legislator Scott Brown and Democratic gaffe master and Attorney General Martha Coakley in their race for the late Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat.
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New at Reason: Michael C. Moynihan on the Revolutionary Takeover of Ted Kennedy’s Senate Seat
The Reason Foundation’s Director of Economic Research Anthony Randazzo joins a panel to discuss whether banking reform will avert another crisis on Al Jazeera on December 15, 2009.
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Reason Writers on The Tube: Anthony Randazzo Talking Banking Reforms on Al Jazeera
Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko will discus asset forfeiture on the syndicated Jason Lewis show tonight at 8:35 pm ET. Check here for stations, or tune in to XM Satellite Radio, Channel 165.
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Reason on the Radio: Radley Balko To Discuss Asset Forfeiture on the Jason Lewis Show
A small and feisty group of protesters had already established themselves in front of Freddy’s Bar in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn when I arrived shortly after noon to witness today’s big groundbreaking—or “groundtaking” as the protesters put it—ceremony for the Atlantic Yards project, a 22-acre eminent domain boondoggle that will bulldoze homes and businesses in order to make way for a basketball stadium and some office and apartment towers. Despite the fact that Atlantic Yards is a classic case of eminent domain abuse , New York’s courts have shamefully abdicated their judicial responsibility and allowed this blatant land grab to proceed. So today was something of a last hurrah for the opposition, many of whom have been fighting this outrage for the past seven years
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Snapshots from the Atlantic Yards “Groundtaking” Ceremony
From our April issue, Contributor Editor Tim Cavanaugh reveals the Obama team’s favorite slices of fiscal baloney. View this article.
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New at Reason: Tim Cavanaugh on Obama’s Five Lies About the American Economy
Last week, New York state assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn) introduced a bill to ban the use of all salt in restaurant cooking and impose a fine of up to $1,000 on violators. Like all legislators who introduce absolutely insane legislation, he says he is trying to “make sure that we bring awareness.” Oddly, Ortiz seems to be raising awareness about someone else’s bill
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More on the NY Salt Ban Bill
