Topic: Government

The Workhouse of the Early Court

– June 18, 2022

“Magliocca has himself provided superb academic service in bringing to life a figure who is largely forgotten but for his famous surname and showing his contemporary relevance to some of our own important legal debates.” ~ John O. McGinnis

Crisis, Fiscal Policy, Free Markets, Government

Student-Loan Forgiveness Will Cover Non-Education Purchases, Say, Newer Cars

– June 17, 2022

“The fungibility of student loans means that taxpayers will be saddled with paying for parents’ and students’ non-college purchases. Many professors will, understandably, root for student-loan forgiveness.” ~ Richard McKenzie

Education, Government, History

What Kind of Education do Lotteries Fund?

– June 16, 2022

“If the public education system actually empowered students to earn, to save, and to succeed, the state-run lottery would long since have run out of customers. If a lottery ‘to fund education,’ continues to succeed, that is only because it has already, monumentally, failed.” ~ Laura Williams

Books, Classical Liberalism, Economic History, Government

Review: Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America, 1607-1849

– June 15, 2022

“It may seem extreme to some, but this total lack of admiration for any political actor is what allows the book to be a solid contribution to American political and economic history.” ~ Vincent Geloso

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government, Healthcare

Fat Orwell

– June 15, 2022

“With a few discreet kicks he sent the bits of his discarded lunch scattering. Now quiet again, his Fatbit faded to its resting display of the Party slogans. War is peace. Inflation is prosperity. Fitness is fatness.” ~ Jon Sanders

Books, Classical Liberalism, Government

C.S. Lewis on Recovering the Way Forward

– June 15, 2022

“The original arc of liberalism will still be the original centuries-long arc of liberalism. The founding of liberal civilization will still be the founding. The ascendancy of liberalism will always be liberalism’s historic ascendancy.” ~ Daniel B. Klein

Crisis, Financial Markets, Government, Inflation

No, Putin Didn’t Cause Inflation

– June 13, 2022

“Allowing politicians to blame Putin, corporations, shipping firms, billionaires, insufficient taxation, ‘greed,’ or other tired scapegoats is erroneous and misleading.” ~ Peter C. Earle

Crisis, Government, Inflation

A Time for Reckoning

– June 13, 2022

“We’ve reached the end of the road, and found that the people who must ultimately pay for unlimited government is us. Whether through taxes or inflation, pay we will.” ~ Antony Davies

Crisis, Energy, Environmentalism, Government

Joe Biden’s Gasoline Saga

– June 12, 2022

“The belief that exorbitant prices are good because it means people will change their entire way of life is one of the responses in the Biden administration’s rotation of pat responses to high gas prices, along with such things as blaming Putin and corporate greed.” ~ Jon Sanders

Crisis, Government, Public Choice and Public Policy, Science

Review: Scott Atlas’s A Plague Upon Our House

– June 10, 2022

“Dr. Atlas’ analysis of the US’s COVID-19 response is masterful. This book offers great explanations and evidence to clarify COVID-related misunderstandings and falsehoods. His accounts of working in DC are shocking and enlightening for readers skeptical about federal suggestions on combating the pandemic.” ~ Raymond J. March

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government, History

Censoring Edward Atkinson, the 19th Century’s Elon Musk

– June 9, 2022

“Despite the similarities between Atkinson and Musk, and the coordination between the ‘Administration papers’ then and today’s mass media echo chambers, there remained lines that the government was not prepared to cross.” ~ Robert E. Wright

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Placebo Buttons and the Illusion of Control

– June 9, 2022

“Voting, like most political speech, is a placebo button. Press it if you want to, if you like the way it feels, but don’t expect it to create genuine change in the world or solve complex problems.” ~ Laura Williams