In 1944, Ludwig von Mises published one of his least-known masterworks: Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War . Drawing on his prewar experience in Vienna, watching the rise of the national socialists in Germany (the Nazis), who would eventually take over his own homeland, he set out to draw parallels between the Russian
Taxed to Death It ain’t over on April 15! If you stop, for example, for a $10 pizza on Thursday night to celebrate being done with the IRS for another year, the taxman will be right there to grab a slice or two. On top of paying the sales tax, you’ll also be picking up a major chunk of what the government charges the pizza shop owner for local
The feds have decided there’s no difference between men and women. The result? There’s no men’s wrestling at Illinois State. None at Notre Dame. None at Princeton. The soccer players, too, are gone from Illinois State. In a recent two year period, 24 colleges and universities did away with men’s wrestling. Another 31 dropped men’s golf. Men’s
As we turn to a new century next week, the good news is that the most murderous 100 years in history is over, a prime reason to raise a glass of spirits at midnight. Topping the list of the century’s worst butchers are the Russians and Chinese, along with their assorted statist cousins. Collectively, since the time of the Bolsheviks’ coup in 1917,
Bill Clinton’s unpaid legal bills now exceed his net assets by several million dollars. And now, just as the president is getting ready to pack his bags, Franette McCulloch has seen to it that he’ll have one more lawsuit to deal with, one more charge of sexual harassment, and one more demand for $1 million on his way out the door. It started in
Today’s “knuckleheads” are nothing compared to yesterday’s heroes. That was the message from Bill Cosby at a recent gala event in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education . “These people marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education,” said Cosby, referring to those who fought a half
I’ve been there, so the things that John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, says in the June 2006 issue of Liberty magazine essentially ring true. Whole Foods is big now, one of the nation’s fastest growing mass retailers, with sales last year exceeding $5 billion and a gross profit of more than $1.6 billion — not a bad return in the grocery
Just when employers were getting less fearful about what President Obama might do next to worsen the business climate, the National Labor Relations Board (now with its first Democratic majority in a decade) announced on December 14 that, under a newly proposed federal rule, private employers will be required to display pro-unionizing posters in
“Middle-class families shouldn’t pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires,” repeatedly proclaims President Obama, arguing for his proposed $1.5 trillion tax increase over the next 10 years. “That’s pretty straightforward. It’s hard to argue against that.” In fact, Mr. Obama’s statement is anything but straightforward. Seeking to reverse
You knew it was coming. First they came for the cigarettes, then Hank Williams Jr. got knocked off Monday Night Football for being politically incorrect, and now they’re coming for the butter. Denmark, on October 1, put a $1.29-per-pound tax on all foods that hit 2.3 percent in saturated fats. That’s on top of a 25 percent surcharge imposed last
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.