The partial shutdown with the federal government has helped, perhaps more than any other recent political event, to illustrate some of the biggest problems that come with centralizing an ever-larger number of government activities within a single, centralized institution. Were the US government more decentralized, we’d not now be facing a nationwide systemic failure that …

During this partial government shutdown, it’s become nearly impossible to avoid news articles, and segments on television and radio outlining the many ways that federal employees are apparently suffering financially as a result of the partial government shutdown. The stories are very diverse in topic. Some take a “human interest story” angle, simply looking at …

Whether its CNBC, or The New York Times, or NPR, the mainstream media is clearly committed to using the current partial government shutdown to portray federal workers as beleaguered victims of the American political system. But, in all cases I’ve encountered, these reports neglect to mention that on average, civilian federal workers make 17 percent …

The Transportation Security Administration, a federal agency, is facing a no-show problem with employees, as paychecks are put on hold during the partial government shutdown. This is reportedly leading to longer lines and security problems at airports nationwide. According to CNN , Hundreds of Transportation Security Administration officers, who are required to work without paychecks …

In recent years, an entire literature has sprung up over the various uses of the word “neoliberalism.” As many have already pointed out, it is largely used as a term of derision by doctrinaire leftists against both moderate leftists and advocates for free markets. Those who use the term in a pejorative way (which is …

The federal government is in the midst of a partial “shutdown.” Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of money flowing to a great many government departments. And even those workers who experience deferred salaries during the shutdown will almost certainly get their back pay paid in full. But as always occurs during these so-called shutdowns, many …

Although some capitalists and defenders of free markets believe that Ebenezer Scrooge has much to teach us about good economics, I have long found him to be less than inspiring in this respect. Scrooge, for example, demonstrates a lamentably bad understanding of the subjective nature of value, nor does he understand the concept of psychic …

A Peru-born friend of mine complains that Christmas trees have become popular in his native country. Given that Douglas firs aren’t exactly part of the indigenous flora in Peru, the (mostly artificial) firs and pines used as Christmas trees in homes across the country strike him as incongruous with local customs and the local environment. …

Money supply growth slowed in November, falling to the lowest rate recorded since February of this year. Overall, money-supply growth remains well below the growth rates experienced from 2009 to 2016, and has fluctuated very little since March. In November, year-over-year growth in the money supply was at 3.48 percent. That was down from October’s …

One of the more persistent myths about capitalism is that wealth and resources are “wasted” when spent on luxuries. At the core of this myth is the idea that when you buy, say, a $5,000 75-inch LED television, the money you spend on that item goes only to improve the life of the person who …

New York City is gearing up to tighten state controls on the curriculum at private schools for Orthodox Jews known as yeshivas. Some activists against these so-called “ultra-Orthodox” schools claim that they spend too much time on religious and cultural instruction, and too little time on more “secular” topics. The city has now taken up …

French protests over a new climate-change-inspired fuel tax highlight high costs imposed on ordinary people by climate-change policies. Original article: “French Protestors Fume over Climate Taxes and a Rising Cost of Living”.

When the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, employers hired fewer disabled workers, because they feared lawsuits. We may now be seeing a similar trend in the face of more sexual harassment claims. Original Article: “After #MeToo, Men Begin Avoiding Female Co-Workers”.

As the EU tries to exploit the UK in Brexit negotiations, the US should adopt total unilateral free trade with the UK. Original article: “We Need Unilateral Free Trade with Post-Brexit Britain”.

One of the challenges in looking at income and wealth data is getting a sense of how different demographic groups are affected. It’s relatively easy to find median income and wealth data over time for the entire population, for example. But then problems of interpretation immediately present themselves. For example, if the data is household …

Bloomberg reports this week that on Wall Street, men have started to implement office strategies that the men believe will minimize the likeliness of being accused of sexual harassment: While the new personal codes for dealing with #MeToo have only just begun to ripple, the shift is already palpable, according to the people interviewed, who …

Historian Ralph Raico was one of the great popularizers and scholars of European decentralism. That is, Raico recognized and supported the idea that Europe’s traditions in favor of human rights and limited political power grew out of Europe’s long history of decentralized and fragmentary politics. Many historians over the centuries, such as Lord Acton, have …

By 1989, it had become apparent to all — everyone except the CIA, of course — that the Soviet economy, and thus the Soviet state was in very deep trouble.  In November 1989, the Berlin Wall came down in the face of Soviet impotence. And, with the Cold-War corpse not even cold yet, president George …

The Creepy Line, a new documentary by director M.A. Taylor, is now streaming at Amazon Prime. It takes a disturbing look at how Google and Facebook influence their users’ view of the world, and how the companies have pioneered new ways of doing business. It’s a business model in which personal data harvested from users …

French protests over a new climate-change-inspired fuel tax highlight high costs imposed on ordinary people by climate-change policies. The so-called “Yellow Vest” protests that have sprung up in France in recent weeks now involve a variety of domestic policy issues. But they were triggered by a new tax on fuel prices. French residents from the …

Although I have lived in Colorado almost continuously for 30 years, only on three or four occasions have I visited our most famous tourist attraction: Rocky Mountain National Park. I avoid RMNP because that’s where the tourists go. Traffic on the highways to the park is usually heavy, and tourists are found nearly everywhere inside …

It’s become common now to read arguments claiming that immigrants — broadly speaking —  are good for the economy, or good for “America” in some other fashion. “Migrants and refugees are good for economies,” Nature magazine claims. “Open Immigration Is Good for the Health of People and the Economy,” another writer claims. “1,500 economists to …

It’s become common now to read arguments claiming that immigrants — broadly speaking —  are good for the economy, or good for “America” in some other fashion. “Migrants and refugees are good for economies,” Nature magazine claims. “Open Immigration Is Good for the Health of People and the Economy,” another writer claims. “1,500 economists to …

The news in Latin America this year has brought two reminders that Latin America’s stringent gun controls have not stemmed the growing homicide problem in many parts of the region.
The first is that homicides reached new highs in Mexico this year, reaching record levels not seen since the country began keeping records twenty years ago.
Secondly, violent crime became a significant issue in this year’s presidential race, with president-elect Jair Bolsonaro running on a platform of fighting crime, pledging to “use the army” if need be.
In both cases, crime continues to soar in spite of the fact that that both Brazil and Mexico are anything but what we might call “laissez-faire” when it comes to gun ownership. Indeed, both employ

The news in Latin America this year has brought two reminders that Latin America’s stringent gun controls have not stemmed the growing homicide problem in many parts of the region. The first is that homicides reached new highs in Mexico this year , reaching record levels not seen since the country began keeping records twenty …

Money supply growth slowed in October, falling to the lowest rate recorded since February of this year. Overall, money-supply growth remains well below the growth rates experienced from 2009 to 2016, and has fluctuated very little since March. In October, year-over-year growth in the money supply was at 3.7percent. That was down from September’s growth …

Amazon isn’t the first big corporation to manipulate policymakers by shopping around the idea of relocating its headquarter to the “right” city. The “right” city, of course, is the one that provides the company with enough tax breaks and other political favors so as to make the move worth it. Back in 2001, for example, …

A federal judge today ruled the White House must temporarily re-instate the press pass of CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s, who had been barred after an argument with Donald Trump in the press room. The judge ruled the White House had violated due process by banning Acosta. CNN, however, had requested a ruling saying that Acosta …

Canadian healthcare has become something of a byword for the “ideal” in healthcare among certain activists in the United States. Bernie Sanders, for example, has relentlessly pressed for a Canada-style healthcare system, and many left-of-center Americans advocate for the same. Not surprisingly, though, few details of how the Canadian “single-payer” system works are ever discussed …

We’re often told that submission to government edicts is “voluntary” because we have “representative” government. The evidence suggests, however, that politicians don’t represent their constituents. Nor could they, even if they wanted to. Original article: “No Matter How You Vote, Politicians Don’t Represent You”.