Tag: Central Planning
Dr. Tom G. Palmer on responsibility and freedom
December 12, 2023 | Post
Responsibility: For some the word conjures up images of old people lecturing young people about sitting up straight, doing their homework, and writing thank-you notes to elderly aunts.
Unsurprisingly, we’re expected to think it’s boring, tedious, a diversion from our enjoyment of our freedom. The goal of freedom, the images suggest, is to escape responsibilities.
In fact, embracing responsibility is neither boring, nor tedious, nor a diversion from freedom.
Is Covid China’s Chernobyl?
April 4, 2023 | Post
Just as COVID has changed our lives in many ways since 2020, Chernobyl changed the world in 1986. These were two great disasters emanating from two major communist nations. The results and consequences of both will affect us for a very long time, maybe even forever.
As many will know, Chernobyl was instrumental in accelerating the end of the Soviet Union and is critical to our understanding of this period. However, could COVID be the key to understanding, in the future, perhaps, the end of Communist China?
How urban planners broke Brooklyn
March 17, 2017 | Post
Zoning and landmark laws have frozen much of New York into a life-size historical diorama: neighborhoods frozen in time, where the only thing that goes up is the rent.
Who makes the mountain paths? Freedom and the embrace of uncertainty.
March 1, 2017 | Post
The hike to the summit of Mount Lafayette in New Hampshire’s White Mountains climbs a steep and rugged 3550 feet over 4 miles. The winter snows bury the rocks; and after a storm, snowshoed hikers pack the snow into an almost-smooth “herd path” that others can then hike with light crampons. Step off that herd […]
Baristas with BAs: The result of central planning for schools
February 23, 2017 | Post
Government school systems fail to provide different kinds of instruction as appropriate to different kinds of students in different places and times.
Car crashes and hockey fights — how safety mandates can make life more dangerous
January 16, 2017 | Post
Suppose you want to reduce deaths in automobile accidents. Should you make cars safer? Seems like a no-brainer, right? But consider: suppose instead of an airbag in your steering column, we put a six-inch dagger.
Bureaucracy buries the human spirit with paperwork
December 18, 2016 | Post
The following words represent the generally acknowledged mindset of a bureaucrat: “Rules are rules, fella. I don’t make ‘em. I just enforce ‘em.”
The dystopian novel that foresaw the nightmares of socialism
October 27, 2016 | Post
Decades before the socialists gained power, Eugene Richter saw the writing on the wall.
Lessons from Venezuela, as Told by a Venezuelan
August 8, 2016 | Post
Editor’s note: This piece was originally posted by Freedom Partners on July 31st, 2016. Minor edits were made to improve clarity. What does socialism look like in the real world? Cronyism. Inequality. Poverty. Despair. Human suffering on an immense scale. That’s the answer that Freedom Partners member — and Venezuela native — Erick Brimen gives in the video below. […]
Venezuela vs. Ecuador (Chavismo vs. Chavismo Dollarized)
July 22, 2016 | Post
This piece was originally published at the Cato Institute. Tune into Learn Liberty’s Facebook page on Monday at 3pm for a Facebook Live event with professor Steve Hanke on this topic. With the arrival of President Hugo Chávez in 1999, Venezuela embraced Chavismo, a form of Andean socialism. In 2013, Chávez met the Grim Reaper […]
Venezuela, Socialism, and The Unlearned Lessons of Political Economy
June 15, 2016 | Post
The news from Venezuela just keeps getting worse: runaway inflation, rolling electricity blackouts, shortages of even the most basic goods, people dying in hospitals waiting for care that just doesn’t ever arrive. The world looks on, appalled at the spreading miseries, and asks: “Why is this happening?” And, “What can be done about it?” These […]
Why You Can’t Just “Reject” Capitalism
May 15, 2016 | Post
The Washington Post recently blared the headline: “Majority of Millennials Now Reject Capitalism, Poll Shows.” I suspect, perhaps unfairly, that this is a matter of some pleasure for the Post’s editorial board. But if you actually read the article, a different picture emerges. In fact, 42 percent of the millennials polled say they support capitalism. […]
The 2016 Election and the Folly of a Brilliant President
March 23, 2016 | Post
Professor Barry Brownstein has written an excellent piece for the Foundation for Economic Education, titled “The Last Thing We Need Is a Brilliant President.” He writes that in the midst of America’s current race for the White House, people are promoting the brilliance of their preferred candidates, arguing that the right leader will help get […]
When government fails — Venezuela edition
October 21, 2015 | Post
The following blog post by Abigail Hall appeared on the Independent Institute’s blog on September 3rd, 2015. Below is an excerpt. Some people look at the conditions in Venezuela and point to oil prices as the source of many of its problems. The Venezuelan government, led by President Nicolás Maduro, blames opposition leaders for the […]
V for Venezuela
October 20, 2015 | Post
Venezuela’s condition continues to deteriorate, with opposition leaders imprisoned and elections allegedly rigged, the situation looks like it will not change anytime soon. This brings up the question, when are societies justified to rise up in a violent manner against government? Check out this short Learn Liberty video and let us know what you think […]