John Stossel: Politicians Fiddle While Fiscal Crisis Looms

Imagine this family budget: Last year, you earned $24,700. But you spent $37,900, incurring $13,300 in debt, and you were already $153,500 in debt. So you say, "I promise I'll spend $300 less this year!" Anyone can see that your cutback is pathetic and that you need to spend much less. Yet if you add eight zeroes, that's America's budget. The president says ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: Academic Hyprocrisy


Time for academics to start pointing the finger inward.    It is fascinating to see people accusing others of things that they themselves are doing, especially when their own sins are worse. Academics love to say that businesses are not paying enough to people who work for them. But where in business are there people who are paid absolutely nothing for   ... MORE

Arthur Caplan: Your Privacy For A Low Price


Your privacy is gone, and it’s never coming back.    A report that Target accidentally disclosed a teen girl’s pregnancy to her father shows the logical extreme to which retailers can take the search for more information about their customers. This is what happens when you hand the cashier at your local drug store or grocery store any of a zillion plastic reward  ... MORE

Ira Stoll: Why Capitalism Isn't Going Anywhere

Only system know to increase both growth and freedom. At the height of the financial crisis in late 2008 and early 2009, a wave of articles declared the end of capitalism. A half-dozen reporters writing about the issue called Allan Meltzer, who since 1957 has been teaching about capitalism at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.       ... MORE

VIDEO: Externalities - Market Failure or Political Failure?

Carol Williams: California Gun Owners Are Optimistic

Emerging strategy to restore lost gun rights. Chuck Michel's strategy for crime-fighting rests on the element of surprise: Keep the bad guys guessing who's armed and who's not. "If 5% of the ducks could shoot back, you're not going to go duck hunting," said the Long Beach lawyer representing many Californians denied concealed weapons permits and, in his view, their  ... MORE

Mark Steyn: Contraception Misdirection

Like handing out condoms on the Titanic. Have you seen the official White House version of what the New York Times headline writers call “A Responsible Budget”? My favorite bit is Chart 5-1 on page 58 of their 500-page appendix on “Analytical Perspectives.” This is entitled “Publicly Held Debt Under 2013 Budget Policy Projections.” It’s a straight through your  ... MORE

VIDEO: Brad Schiller - Who Are the 1%?

Mike Silva: PC Police Disarm Old Houston Uniform

Nauseating MLB political correctness at it again.    Yesterday I wrote at Sports Media Watchdog about the public overreaction to the ESPN “Chink in the Armor” story; today I came across a story about MLB messing with tradition in the name of political correctness. Last September, the League prevented the Mets from wearing hats honoring first       ... MORE

Walter E Williams: Math Mattters

Hard work and discipline pay dividends.   If one manages to graduate from high school without the rudiments of algebra, geometry and trigonometry, there are certain relatively high-paying careers probably off-limits for life -- such as careers in architecture, chemistry, medicine computer programming, engineering and certain technical fields.    ... MORE

The Economist: America Is Tangled Up In Green Tape

The chaotic state of overregulation.  Pity the engineers responsible for keeping America’s coal-fired power plants up to standard. Late last year a court halted the adoption of new regulations on interstate air pollution that would have affected lots of them—just two days before they were due to go into force. The suspended regulations, in turn, were themselves a   ... MORE

Rick Moran: Gas Hikes Will Plague Anti-Drilling President

Obama becomes vulnerable on energy issue. Nothing will focus the attention of voters on Obama's failed energy policies like the current rise in gas prices. The White House can spin it alll they want, but thwen voters start really feeling the pinch from high fuel costs, they are going to start asking questions. Fox News: Nationally, gas prices are $3.53 a gallon, up    ... MORE

VIDEO: Harry Browne - Why Government Doesn't Work


Central planners fail to understand that people will think for themselves.  

Jason L. Riley: Obama's War On School Vouchers

The president is not pro-choice on education.    In his State of the Union address last month, President Obama spoke about the importance of kids staying in school and even urged states to raise the dropout age to 18. So it's passing strange that his new $3.8 trillion budget provides no new money for a school voucher program in Washington, D.C., that is producing    ... MORE

AP: One Candidate Stands For Self-Ownership Principle

Ron Paul believes one's body is private property.    Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul decried the “war on drugs” Thursday night, telling supporters in Washington state that people should be able to make their own decisions on such matters. Voters in Washington are likely to decide this year whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.   ... MORE

VIDEO: Santorum Fights Liberty, Supports Earmarks

Peter Ferrara: The Decline & Fall Of America's Economy

The fruits of Obama's budget.    President Obama’s budget released Monday embodies his policies for economic growth and recovery.  The document, including the President’s accompanying budget message, makes those policies quite clear.  If you think the key to economic growth and prosperity is increased government spending, financed by increased ... MORE

Charles Krauthammer: ObamaCare Vs. The Constitution

Give him points for cleverness.     President Obama’s birth control “accommodation” was as politically successful as it was morally meaningless. It was nothing but an accounting trick that still forces Catholic (and other religious) institutions to provide medical insurance that guarantees free birth control, tubal ligation and morning-after abortifacients — all of which ... MORE

Gary Shapiro: Political Correctness Is Hurting America

A silent killer of liberty.   I recently ran across an old Internet joke that attempts to define the term “political correctness.” The joke reads: “Political correctness is a doctrine – fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rapidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media – which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit ... MORE

Jim Yardley: A Suicide Pact For Everyone

The partnership of unions and government. The U.S. Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are taking action to make it easier for union bosses to force non-union plants to organize. This flies in the face of economic reality, although it does fit nicely with Obama's ideology and his re-election campaign strategy. International trade is a fact of  ... MORE

VIDEO: Christopher Hitchens - Unpopular Speech