Editor’s Pick. Written by Jacob Lyles. Imagine that you were entertaining a business deal with a man with an supernatural ability to make two kinds of promises: 1) promises that are impossible for him to break and 2) ordinary, breakable promises. Why would you accept anything other than the unbreakable promises from him? If he…
Category: Free Markets
The Myth of 19th-Century Laissez-Faire
Editor’s Pick. Written by Roderick Long. Last week Michael Lind asked a silly question: if libertarianism is so great, why hasn’t any country tried it? The question is silly because the libertarian answer is obvious: Libertarianism is great for ordinary people, but not for the power elites that control countries and determine what policies they…
The Economics of Bitcoin
Editor’s Pick. Written by Robert Murphy. Bitcoin is an ingenious peer-to-peer “virtual” or “digital currency” that challenges the way economists have traditionally thought about money. Its inbuilt scarcity provides an assurance of purchasing power arguably safer than any other system yet conceived. But to understand these claims, one must first understand the basics of Bitcoin.…
Private Threat Management
Editor’s Pick. Video by CopBlock.org.
Bitcoin: The Tyranny Test
Editor’s Pick. Written by Paul Rosenberg. An increasing number of people have complained about governments and central banks in recent years, even using the word “tyranny” to describe them. They are, of course, called names in the establishment press: conspiracy theorists, mainly. Calling someone a name, however, does not erase their argument (at least not…
The Truth about Savings and Consumption
Editor’s Pick. Video by FEE.org.
Most Innovative Products Are Not Patented
Editor’s Pick. Written by Mike Masnick. We’ve pointed out over and over and over again that patents are not a proxy for innovation. In fact, there’s little to connect the two at all, except potentially for how patents can hinder and hold back the pace of innovation. A new study really helps to drive home…
Printed Protection and the Future of Defense
Editor’s Pick. Written by Jeffrey Tucker. We crossed another milestone in industrial history last week. Over the weekend of May 4-5, 2013, the world’s first handgun was printed on a 3-D printer. It was fired and it worked. The implications are dazzling for people all over the world. The printers will become cheaper over time.…
The Ideal of Informed Consumerism
Editor’s Pick. Written by Connor Boyack. The government destroys informed consumerism when they prevent … consumers from making their own choices and reaping whatever consequences may come. A state that treats its citizens like adults must step out of the way and allow them to ingest what they please, provided nobody else’s rights are violated…
Freedom Paradise Found
Editor’s Pick. Written by Jack Wheeler. Edinburgh-of-the-Seven-Seas, Tristan da Cunha, South Atlantic Ocean. Welcome to the most isolated community on the planet, on the world’s remotest inhabited island. Named after the Portuguese captain who discovered it in 1506, Tristão da Cunha, it is 1,736 miles from Africa, and 2,466 miles from South America. The nearest…