If there is one thing to be hoped will come out of the current controversy over the proposed mandate for religious organizations to pay for free pregnancy prevention and termination coverage for their employees, it is that women and American religious leaders and believers come to realize that the state is not a benevolent,...
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In claiming during his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday that he wishes to tax the rich because that is what Jesus would do, President Obama demonstrated he is equally confused on the teachings of Jesus, as he is with history and economics: The rich should pay more not only because “I...
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Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, in attempting to highlight an emphasis on the middle class in his platform, said a politically foolish thing. “I’m not concerned about the very poor,” he said. “We have a safety net there. If it needs a repair, I’ll fix it.” In an apparent effort to soften the harshness of...
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Pundits of late have been lamenting the decline of technological innovation. Has the rate of innovation in fact slowed down? And if so, how can we best revive it and speed up the rate of economic progress? Independent Institute Research Director Alex Tabarrok offers his penetrating insights on this hot topic in his new...
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According to an ABC News report last week, At a million-dollar San Francisco fundraiser today [October 26], President Obama warned his recession-battered supporters that if he loses the 2012 election it could herald a new, painful era of self-reliance in America. “The one thing that we absolutely know for sure is that if we...
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Anti-capitalist protesters inflated a provocative balloon at a U2 concert in Ireland, accusing the band of evading their taxes, leading security to wrestle to them to the ground, which was met with more violence. Around 30 people got in the thick of the struggle. I’ve never been a big fan of U2, or their...
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It’s always a treat to announce the publication of a new issue of our acclaimed quarterly journal, The Independent Review. If nothing else, it gives me an excuse to write up essay-type questions based on the new issue’s contents—and thereby bring to mind (to my mind, at least) those recurring Saturday Night Live skits,...
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Writer Brendan Behan once remarked, “There’s no bad publicity except an obituary.” I am an economics professor at Florida State University (FSU), and my department has been getting lots of publicity this week. Our run in the spotlight started with an op-ed on May 1 in the local newspaper, The Tallahassee Democrat, in which...
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My article on Talk Radio as an example of spontaneous order in tornado relief just appeared in The Wall Street Journal. Here is an excerpt: The tornado that tore through here late last month left 41 dead and 12 still missing. Whole neighborhoods now resemble bombed-out postwar Tokyo or Berlin. But this devastation is...
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As many of you know, I teach at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. I really appreciate all of the emails and calls asking how I fared in the tornado. We are fine as are all our family and friends. The tornado by-passed Northport (where I live) entirely. It also spared the University of...
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