Commentary

"Libertarians want GMO protesters to know that they're right when they insist that they should have a free choice about what they eat. That's why people need to understand that GMOs have been forced on them not just by corporations like Monsanto but by their own government. The so-called 'Monsanto Protection Act' signed into law by Obama was nothing more than an act of corporatist-statist cronyism designed, as always, to place the government's monopoly on power at the service of corporate profits while placing corporate money into the pockets of politicians." (05/23/13)

"The debate over the impact of 'austerity' policies on economic well-being is raging once again, fueled in part by the discovery of errors in a much-cited study by Harvard economists Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff of how national indebtedness impacts economic growth. As in previous rounds, however, basic economics has taken a back seat to high-powered statistical examinations of national income accounts." (05/23/13)

"The great surplus enabled by trade and specialization, as anthropologists tell us, was a necessary change for permanent cities; civilization to develop. It also permitted a phenomenon that could not exist prior to such surplus: the state. Among all of the competing theories about the process of early state formation, anthropologists generally agree that organized government as we know it was only possible after, and because of, this great surplus in wealth. This means (my own conclusion) that the state is essentially parasitic." (05/22/13)

"It stems from a sincere desire to expand liberty, and a misunderstanding of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. This leads these folks to embrace the federal government as some kind of liberty enforcement squad. They take the basic restrictions on federal authority outlined in the Bill of Rights and insit the feds to use their power to ensure state and local governments adhere to them as well." (05/23/13)

"How dumb are we as Americans? More specifically, how irresponsible and stupid is the U.S. government when it comes to our money? And how foolish are we to put up with this?" (05/23/13)

"A federal crime wave is sweeping the nation, and prosecutors and G-men could not be happier about it. The Wall Street Journal reported that government 'forfeiture programs confiscated homes, cars, boats, and cash in more than 15,000 cases [in 2010]. The total take topped $2.5 billion, more than doubling in five years, Justice Department statistics show.'" (05/23/13)

"The United States Senate will likely soon consider ratification the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which fell six votes short of the 67 needed last December. The CPRD’s stated purpose is 'to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.'" (05/22/13)

"As far as we know, the FBI 'investigation' into Antiwar.com began in April of 2004. In a parody of what the general mentality was at that time, the FBI memo instructing regional offices to probe Antiwar.com raises the possibility that we are a 'threat to National Security' and quite possibly 'agents of a foreign power.' What is foreign here is the paranoia and Bizarro World craziness of this rationale for spying -- foreign to America, that is, until September 11, 2001, when it became all too routine." (05/24/13)

"The mere fact that the apparent killer -- and he admitted to being the one -- spoke reasonably clear English doesn’t make this any less barbaric. After all, many vicious murderers are well enough educated. Nor is it any excuse that 'Muslims are dying daily.' People are dying daily everywhere but none of that justifies going out and butchering other people. And please don’t give me that ridiculous excuse of 'blow-back.'" (05/23/13)

"It seems to be an easy equation: if joblessness is decreasing and the economy is improving, there should be fewer people receiving government assistance, right? Not so. Why? Part of the reason is that the government is actively recruiting people for SNAP, part is America’s ever-increasing dependence on government to solve our problems, and part is crony capitalism. It’s a heady mix of money, entitlement, and big government." (05/22/13)

Review of Libertarian Anarchy: Against the State, by Gerard Casey. "Casey discusses anarchic societies, of varying sizes and times, to give examples of 'anarchy in action.' He emphasizes the importance of kinfolk, restitution, and non- violent and non-coercive methods of keeping law and order, including such varied, voluntary approaches as disapproval, ostracism, boycott, blacklisting, blackballing, banishment and expulsion\exclusion, for those who refuse to obey societies norms, pay their debts, honor legal judgments, respect the rights of others, maintain a surety or insurance, or membership in a DRO. Casey clarifies that he is not claiming these societies are examples of pure libertarian anarchism or any kind of imaginary utopia, but he brings them up 'to show that there have been societies that functioned without a state apparatus.'" (05/24/13)

"Ms. Warren and you are correct that worker pay in the long run is determined by worker productivity. The productivity that’s relevant, however, is marginal productivity -- namely, the value that ‘the last’ worker added to a class of production projects adds to the market value of the outputs of those projects. But not all workers and not all production projects are alike. The level of aggregation at which Ms. Warren and you conduct this conversation is meaningless for the point you wish to make." (05/23/13)

"From drugs to drones to immigration, reforming the GOP demands creativity -- and maybe contradictions." (05/22/13)

"Do you like riddles? Here is one for you: What is comprised of 197 members, is active for approximately five months, and is full of inertia? If you answered the Missouri General Assembly regarding education legislation, give yourself a gold star. The state’s legislative body just concluded the general session. In terms of education reform, they achieved very little. The goal of the legislature should be to improve educational options for Missourians. They could accomplish this with meaningful school choice legislation." (05/22/13)

"The version of libertarianism that I refer to as the hard line natural rights position holds that individuals have an absolute right to themselves and their property, hence that any violation for any purpose is wrong. Obvious implications are that it is wrong to collect taxes for any purpose or for a starving man to steal a loaf of bread. It is a position that many libertarians not only agree with but view as defining libertarianism." (05/23/13)

"Bruce Bartlett recently lamented in The New York Times that given the current state of economic affairs we need more Keynesian medicine to fix the US economy. According to Bartlett, the core insight of Keynesian economics is that there are very special economic circumstances in which the general rules of economics don’t apply and are in fact counterproductive." (05/23/13)

"The first is that Chang wants to claim that people are paid according to their marginal productivity: only if a CEO is worth 300 times the average worker should he be paid that. But that's really not quite how labour markets work. Yes, average wages in a country are going to be determined by average productivity, this is true. But the wages of individuals are going to be determined by supply and demand of those particular skills. Given the mess certain CEOs make of running large corporations we can also see that the supply of the necessary skills is fairly small. We'd thus expect a high price to be paid for them." (05/24/13)

"This has key implications for liberty, not least because it is argued that the government’s snoopers’ charter proposal is a good idea in order to combat Islamic extremism. Islamic extremism in our country is a powerful confirmation of John Stuart Mill’s view ... that free institutions are impossible in a culturally divided society. Cultural conflict encourages state control." (05/23/13)

"The firestorm around the White House is only going to grow with the knowledge  that the administration targeted Fox News’ reporter James Rosen for doing  nothing more than being a reporter. Kirsten  Powers:  Turns out it’s a fairly swift sojourn from a president  pushing to 'delegitimize' a news organization to threatening criminal  prosecution for journalistic activity by a Fox News reporter, James Rosen, to  spying on Associated Press reporters." (05/23/13)