The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. - F.A. Hayek
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Education on May 30th, 2008
An essay in response to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle’s Special Report on Rescuing City Schools
232 years ago last week, the first modern Constitutional protection of individual rights for citizens in North America was drafted by George Mason into the Virginia Declaration of Rights. The Virginia Declaration was the major influence on Jefferson’s penning of […]
Posted in Economics Problems on May 29th, 2008
A dear friend of mine politely asked what I thought was going on with oil prices. He thinks they are increasing at a ridiculous rate, and questioned the oil companies’ explanation that this was part of a cycle, and questioned whether oil companies ever experienced a bad time …
Posted in Property Rights on May 28th, 2008
No one owns it. I just learned (shouldn’t I have learned this in grammer school?) that most native American Indian tribes held land in common. No individual held title to any property, nor were any of the communal lands alienable (transferrable). Now the English settlers in the American colonies were by no means saintly, and […]
Posted in You Can't Have it Both Ways on May 27th, 2008
“if the House of Representatives has now declared it “illegal” for the Government of Saudi Arabia to restrict oil production, why is it still legal for the Government of the United States to restrict oil production”
Check out Mark Steyn’s OpEd here.
Posted in Price System on May 26th, 2008
Americans Driving At Historic Lows
Eleven Billion Fewer Vehicle Miles Traveled in March 2008 Over Previous March
WASHINGTON — Americans drove less in March 2008, continuing a trend that began last November, according to estimates released today from the Federal Highway Administration.
“That Americans are driving less underscores the challenges facing the Highway Trust Fund and its reliance […]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy on May 23rd, 2008
yet once again, Milton Friedman has been vindicated.
The heirs of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil empire made a media splash recently when they demanded that the oil giant diversify out of oil, of all things. When Exxon holds its annual shareholder meeting next week, the Rockefeller clan will push proxy resolutions requiring the company to […]
Posted in Personal Finance on May 22nd, 2008
The startling revelation in the recent Congressional hearings on the Bear Stearns situation was not simply that the SEC and its Chairman Christopher Cox failed to foresee the impending failure of Bear Stearns.
Rather, the remarkable news was that at all times leading up to its failure, Bear Stearns was in compliance with each of the […]
Posted in Health Care on May 21st, 2008
Sometimes, I told you so is appropriate:
One lesson here is that while pledging “universal” coverage is easy, the harder problem is paying for it. This year’s appropriation for Commonwealth Care was $472 million, but officials have asked for an add-on that will bring it to $625 million. For 2009, Governor Deval Patrick requested $869 million […]
Posted in Socialism on May 20th, 2008
Read more about it here and here.
Posted in Standards of Living on May 19th, 2008
If you ain’t making it, you can’t consume it. Productivity growth is the brass ring for any economy concerned with increasing its living standards (there I go anthropomorphizing again). When you can make more things with the same number of people, or make the same amount using fewer people, every individual’s command over resources improves.
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