Topic: Free Markets

Material Benefits Are Not Merely Material

– September 1, 2020

“Had this material wealth been produced in less abundance, the range of higher goals that ordinary Americans would today be able to pursue would be narrower. And this material wealth would indeed have been produced in less abundance had Americans been saddled with more of the tariffs, subsidies, and other government interventions for which Oren Cass tirelessly pleads.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

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trump, paternalism

Trump’s “American Greatness” Also Political Paternalism

– August 31, 2020

“Regardless of each citizen’s decision on how they may or may not vote in the coming November election, the real battle for the future of America is in this longer-term conflict of ideas, and the courage and willingness to not be despondent but, instead, shoulder some part of the effort to make that liberal Utopia an ideal wanted by a growing number of our fellow Americans.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling

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running businessman

Entrepreneurship May Die Too

– August 31, 2020

“America’s saving grace may be that most of the rest of the world, even Anglosphere countries like Australia and New Zealand, screwed up even worse. But the biggest threat was never a mass exodus of entrepreneurs, it was the loss of entrepreneurship itself.” ~ Robert E. Wright

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The Danger of Our Left-Right Political Divide

– August 30, 2020

“A free and open society requires the round rejection of both left and right flavors of failed twentieth-century authoritarianism, the restoration of the classical liberal ideas that transformed the world and yet were never given their due.” ~ David S. D’Amato

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The Power of “No”

– August 27, 2020

“Once we abandon a false and failed zero-sum worldview and realize just how much abundance is available for everyone, we will embrace winning friends, influencing people, and recognizing others’ right to say ‘no’ to any offer.” ~ Art Carden

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Employment Options, Not Labor Unions, are the Real Source of Bargaining Power for Workers

– August 24, 2020

“If America really is filled with underpaid workers, before letting politicians and pundits who express this belief put other people’s money where their mouths are, let them put their money where their mouths are by launching new businesses that can profitably employ today’s underpaid workers. If these politicians and pundits are correct, they have nothing to lose and – along with American workers – everything to gain.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

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meat

Terrible Policies Possess Both Virulence and Prevalence

– August 21, 2020

“We have civilization and prosperity not because we are smart but because we permit the freedom to cooperate toward building smart social and economic institutions.” ~ Robert E. Wright

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uber driver

Ride Sharing and the Absurdity of “Protecting” Workers Out of a Job

– August 21, 2020

“Government regulation unnecessarily pushes up transaction costs. In this case, by mandating unwanted benefits, those transaction costs are so high that Uber/Lyft are choosing not to transact at all in California. This is a huge loss for Uber, Lyft, its drivers, and their thousands of customers.” ~ Raymond C. Niles

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melbourne

This Is Not Australia

– August 20, 2020

“Our leadership must acknowledge the suffering of countless thousands of Australian citizens affected by measures taken to ‘defeat’ the virus. We need a collective plan that restores our civil and human rights and returns us to a liveable, albeit new normality. If we ever want to sing that inspiring Seekers song together again, then it’s time for all Australians to start thinking and acting collectively for the good of us all and for the future of this ‘lucky country.’” ~ Tania de Jong

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pathological parochial altruism

Pathological and Parochial Altruism in the Age of Fear

– August 20, 2020

“A healthy altruism already resides in the concepts of liberty, free markets, free trade, and exchanges that are beneficial to each individual. If in the spirit of entrepreneurship, the defectors from the status quo, the disruptors and ingenious can rise up to challenge the “new normal” and break away from the cult of blind obedience and pathological altruism, then there is still hope.” ~ Lucio Saverio Eastman

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pot commitment

Intellectuals, Politicians, and Pot Commitment

– August 20, 2020

“When a politician or another figure of authority lies, or changes their story without conceding previous error, it is important to remember that theirs is, ultimately, an edifice of assumed credibility. Honesty, unfortunately, would only erode it. Perhaps replacing attorneys with poker players would improve the climate of strategic courage in our state houses and Washington, D.C.” ~ Peter C. Earle

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Stop Tearing Down Statues. Use Them to Tell the Story of American Liberty.

– August 19, 2020

“It is time that we confront our paradoxical history of personalities, beliefs, and institutions, telling a story of continued struggle to manifest a civic inheritance of individual liberty and human dignity. A struggle marked with failure, but which we hope will continue to bear fruit for the good of humankind.” ~ James L. Caton

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