The usual argument about smoking and anti-obesity laws is that people who are sick cost the public money. Time reports on an opposite view: the earlier you die, the cheaper it is for those paying the bills. “The researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people racked up the most expensive health costs. But because both the smokers and the
Someone writes to ask what ten free book on Mises.org are essential for understanding the Austrian position. Not a problem: Principles of Economics, Menger Human Action, Mises Man, Economy, State, Rothbard Study Guide to MES, Murphy Theory and History, Mises Epistemological Problems, Mises Economic Policy, Mises America’s Great Depression,
A friend of mine--very smart friend--bought all four Garrett novels and he has been reading them one at a time. i was very interested in his reaction to Harangue , a book that astounded me also: I read the whole thing yesterday, while recuperating (still, dammit) from this laryngitis. I had planned to read “The Driver” first, but I had left it in
McCain says that Bernanke hasn’t lower rates fast enough, as quoted by Bloomberg . The story adds that McCain “supports mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions through a cap-and-trade
A commentator on this blog draws our attention to this piece on the site Rethinking Schools . It is called “Why We Banned Legos.” It is indeed an amazing piece of work, a perfect distillation of the romantic attachment that bourgeois educators in a prosperous society have for a communist ideal they have never experienced or seen or, apparently,
We are preparing to print Notes on Democracy, the hard-to-find book by H.L. Mencken--strongly recommended to us by William Peterson--and I just can’t resist quoting the following, which is just a slight sample of what is emerging from the remarkable 1920 treatise. Here is Mencken on security and the police: What the common man longs for in this
I can vaguely recall a time when the person who helped kids across the street was called a “crossing guard.” It seems like not to long ago, the person parked and watched cars was called a “parking attendant.” The people directing traffic at construction sites were just construction workers. The police were called the police. Now, however, all
Bernanke is said to support stimulus (NYT): “If Mr. Bernanke opposed Congressional action on the ground that spending increases and tax cuts would increase the budget deficit, the Fed might restrain its own effort to stimulate the economy with lower interest rates. Mr. Bernanke wants to keep the Fed out of political jockeying, but he is also wary
I just heard from Lew Rockwell and he made it out of surgery just fine. He had serious surgery done on the back of his eye, not super dangerous but quite harrowing. It took a good part of the day yesterday. Apparently it will be a month or so before we know how much good it did and what the prospects are. But the important thing is that he is
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.
