The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, much ballyhooed as liberal-leaning, is joining the rest of the former so-called “liberal” wing in falling into lockstep behind ever-increasing police powers. The appeals court last week declined a defendant’s request to review drug agents’ sneaking onto his property to affix GPS tracking devices to...
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The Independent Institute’s Senior Fellow William Shughart on Human Events, bringing the real costs of the federal bailouts to YOU. Check out MyGovCost‘s Government Cost Calculator for more!

T-Minus just a few hours folks. The wait will be over. The site will be up. The Government Cost Calculator will crunch. Outrage will inevitably ensue and hopefully, some spend-hungry political heads in Washington will roll. As the countdown to Tuesday’s launch of the Calculator winds down, Americans are winding up! Check out the...
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Independent Institute Senior Fellow Robert Higgs is interviewed by Scott Horton of Antiwar Radio on the widening gap between public and private sector pay, the increasing affluence of military towns compared with others, the disappearance of traditional checks on government power, and the predation and incremental “ratchet effect” of expanding governmental powers that increase...
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Economists and pundits, who contend that the Federal Reserve System has little room to maneuver in using monetary policy to jump-start our anemic economy, often have claimed that America is mired in a Keynesian liquidity trap, a situation in which the demand for money is unresponsive to changes in market interest rates. After all,...
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Property owners in Mongomery, in cooperation with the Institute for Justice, are organizing a press conference for Saturday to organize opposition to the city’s demolition of homes (many owned by blacks in Rosa Parks’ old neighborhood) through “eminent domain through the back door.” Christina Walsh has a powerful story: On Imagine you come home...
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Five years ago, as the housing bubble was ramping up, affordable housing was a big issue. Today, as housing prices have fallen after the bubble burst, I may be one of the few people who thinks housing prices are still too high. [Also see the recent book, Housing America: Building Out of a Crisis.]...
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I normally do not circulate “viral email” but these rebellious ditties remind me of what circulated in the run up to the 1938 election—an election that walloped the New Deal upside the head (although existing programs remained in place). Source: Origin unknown. Following this Dr. Seuss post is some anti-New Deal humor. Critics of...
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Regime uncertainty has gained increasing recognition as the current economic troubles have persisted with little or no improvement since the economy reached a cyclical trough early in 2009. As described in my 1997 paper, regime uncertainty pertains to the likelihood that investors’ private property rights in their capital and the income it yields will be...
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As usual, this week’s Lighthouse deals with a wide range of topics, including British Prime Minister David Cameron’s efforts to slash public spending (Alvaro Vargas Llosa), same-sex marriage in California (William J. Watkins, Jr.), the virtues of private policing (Bruce L. Benson), and the importance of entrepreneurship (David J. Theroux). Here are links to...
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