David Veksler , via Wired , draws our attention to a great product called “Spray on Mud” which gives your car that authentic “off-the-road” look and which is useful in another way. As the ad says: “Sprayonmud is NOT to be used to obscure number-plates or the lights on your vehicle.” David comments: “There has been a trend in the UK to outlaw
It seems that the faculty of the University of Missouri isn’t too keen about the idea of being under the thumb of Raymond W. Alden , Hans Hoppe’s tormentor .
NYT: U.S. to Spend Billions More to Alter Security Systems After spending more than $4.5 billion on screening devices to monitor the nation’s ports, borders, airports, mail and air, the federal government is moving to replace or alter much of the antiterrorism equipment, concluding that it is ineffective, unreliable or too expensive to operate.
A friend is busy trying to persuade the publisher of an old-line journal to put the back issues online, and the publisher has a predictable response, albeit one that you hear less and less of these days: if I put the journal (substitute article, book, etc.) online people won’t pay for it. Variation on the theme: if you give away the cow, people
Steven Pearlstein speculates that CAFTA is a bust on grounds that the US sugar lobby will oppose its provisions that raise import quotas by 1 percent over 15 years. Yes, it turns out that, contrary to all prior experience, this trade agreement would seem to actually require that some US special interest give up just a tiny bit of its mercantilist
There does seem to be a growing literature that argues for the compatibility of Misesianism and Randianism, with Heidi C. Morris’s new piece as the latest entry: “The Logical Compatibility of Austrian Economics and Objectivist Ethics”: Part 1 and Part 2 . It not only a matter of urging a greater degree of mutual understanding but an argument
Congratulations to Brad DeLong , the king of economist bloggers, for drawing attention to Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson , if only to criticize him. One wonders if perhaps Hazlitt’s book is, next to Samuelson, the biggest selling econ book of all time. It came out in 1946, and has been a constant seller ever since. Alex Tabarrok easily
Lawrence Reed at Mackinac provides an excellent round up , in a speech for Grove City, about what government can and cannot do to help the poor. Among many highlights is his discussion about what the constitution’s framers thought about the issue, as well as his discussion of 19th century antipoverty efforts. Interesting excerpt: Welfare statists
A fellow keeps writing me with the claim that Social Security will not be mandatory under the Bush plan, on grounds that: “The employer or employee who doesn’t wish to participate in the portion for private accounts is absolutely free to stay with the old--and, I might say, antiquated--plan. We must change with the times.” Maybe it is definition
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.
