Congress blamed insider market abuses and inadequate disclosure of financial data for the Great Depression, and reacted by creating the SEC. In truth, the Great Depression had more to do with tariffs and poor Federal Reserve policies. I feel like I’ve heard this story before: the government causes a problem, and uses the problem as a reason to take more power.
Tag: faith
A Brief Economic Defense of Regifting
All gifts, like all capitalistic ventures, require some risk and leap of faith that you have found the solution to a problem for your recipient, despite all the unknown variables. It’s also true that most gifts, like most capitalistic ventures, fail to do that.
If You Don’t Trust People, Then You Shouldn’t Trust Politics
“Ordinary people can’t be trusted to make the right decisions about what’s best for themselves and others. That’s why we need government to decide for them.”
Optimality—the Mainstream Economist’s Holy Grail
Politicians are not philosopher kings, not dedicated social engineers selflessly focused on the public interest (itself an elusive concept). They know how to gain election or appointment to public office, and hardly anything else.
The Collision of Two Irreversible Trends
The state huffing and puffing, harassing, demonizing and assaulting people, even outright state-sanctioned murder, has absolutely no chance of reversing or stopping this trend. You can sometimes temporarily scare someone into being obedient, but thuggery is not going to make voluntaryists magically believe in political “authority” again.
Rothbard #18 — Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
Rothbard’s major point seems to be “[b]ut who is to defend the people against the governors?” But his secondary point may be that Burke was much more profound than just being the “Father of the New Conservatism.” Let’s examine both points.
James O’Keefe versus the Cardinal Rule of “Gotcha” Journalism
“O’Keefe’s team seems less interested in what’s true than in making the media look bad,” writes Friedersdorf. The indictment is harsh but it seems to be true. And that’s a problem.
Assertions versus Facts
CNN can show us an apple, but it can’t show us Russian election meddling or global warming or people being made safe by gun control. Unlike apples, these are complex things not amenable to depiction.
The Only Way to Delight People
Remember the last time you were delighted – really beaming with delight? It probably happened when someone of something surprised your expectations in a good way.
Quit Worrying about the Russians in Our Borderless World
Is American society so fragile that a few “divisive” ads, news stories, commentaries, and even lies — perhaps emanating from Russia — threaten to plunge it into darkness? The establishment’s narrative on “Russian election meddling” would have you believe that.