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The Free Market 16, no. 3 (March 1998)   Seen and heard almost everywhere in New York are these four words: “Hey, you never know.” It’s the slogan of the New York State Lottery Commission, and it is used to trick people into a self-imposed form of higher taxation. The pursuit of the average Joe’s dollars is relentless. Day and night the slickly

The Free Market 16, no. 11 (November 1998)   Big media outlets are ignoring the quiet revolution that is taking place across America. Politicians don’t talk too much about it for obvious reasons. This revolution is building incredible momentum. It now threatens the legitimacy of every level of government, the viability of government management of

The Free Market 17, no. 3 (March 1999)   Duality is the Visa and MasterCard management policy that allows banks doing business with one to issue both credit cards. It is a contractual arrangement the merits of which must be tested by the market. There is no way to know ahead of time which contracts will (and should) survive and which will (and

The Free Market 17, no. 9 (August 1999)   No New York City public institution better illustrates the rise and decline of the city than the subways. The subways were primarily built by private-sector entrepreneurs at the turn of the century. On Oct. 27, 1904, the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT), the first subway line in the city, began operating

The Free Market 17, no. 8 (August 1999)   Those arguing that Wall Street and other major industries cannot survive without a strong regulatory structure because regulators keep markets fair must now answer a basic question: Who regulates the regulators? The query comes in the wake of a recent blatant conflict of interest at the Securities and

The Free Market 17, no. 11 (November 1999)   Jesse Ventura, Governor of Minnesota, took a position that is extremely rare in state government. He said that neither the state nor the city nor any other unit of government should spend any money on funding yet another municipal ballpark or providing a taxpayer subsidy to professional ball teams and

The Free Market 18, no. 4 (April 2000)     The Republican Congress, fearful of taking on a Democratic president who plays the class-warfare card, again has failed tens of millions of small American businesses and families: The death tax lives. And tens of thousands of small businesses are at risk as long as it survives. A tax cut bill, which was

Volume 13, Number 1 (1997) War Follows Protection. Peace Follows Free Trade. As David Ricardo said, “If you want peace, starve the government.” Adam Smith believed that trade both refined the manners and improved the standard of living of a people. Throat cutting and xenophobia decline with the growth of internationalism. For those who love

Recently I attended a wake in Rego Park, Queens, a county which is unfortunately a part of New York City. It was the end of a wonderful kosher deli that was beloved by Jew and non-Jew alike: Ben’s Best. This terrific eatery might have died a natural death — many of its elderly patrons were moving to Florida and other less taxing climes than our

In her new book What Happened , Hillary Clinton explains why she lost the presidential election last year. She blames sexism. She blames Trump’s outrageous conduct. She blames Vice President Joe Biden. She blames Obama. She blames Trump’s “deplorable” supporters. She blames FBI Director James Comey and “those damn emails.” She blames the Russians.