I say I’m nosy, my wife says I’m bitter. She’s probably right. Regardless, our township contracts out residential refuse and garbage removal. All residents are required to pay for the service, whether they use it or not. The current contract was about to end so the township sent it out for bid. Since I am nosy (my view), I wanted to see what
When internecine battles of state-level tapeworms arose, I admit I used to root for the side obstensively fighting for lower taxes, less regulations, what have you. Then I read Block and everything changed. In Ohio, the tapeworms have turned on each other. The newly-elected Republican governor is fighting a pitched battle against the various
Aggregates mean nothing to me, an acting man — an individual. Regardless of what the politicized aggregates say, my market basket tells my story — a story of inflation. In the past month: gas at my favored station is up 12%, with my desired in-store candy bar up 13%; milk at the convenient corner drugmart is up 16%; and my self-proclaimed fiscally
Turns out a group of 500 terrorists stormed a food depot and transportation center in Washington state , held six guards hostage, and the police did nothing. Nothing! Oh, wait. They are not terrorist, just an assembly of union workers. And the police may actually arrest a few, but only if they can identify the protesters. (Hey, why not start with
Another Earth Hour has come and gone. So what can we learn from the fourth iteration of this event? Earth Hour is a drain on resources. This is true since, if it were otherwise, companies that participated in the event would continue the practice of lights off after the event. So, clearly, the tangible costs of switching off lights are greater
It looks like the state of Ohio is going to “privatize” the development functions of its Department of Development. Gone will be the bureaucracy that is the state, to be replaced by something else. But what is the right name for this something else, this new beast? Ohio’s new Republican governor John Kasich plans “ to dismantle the Ohio Department
One year ago today a major earthquake devastated Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince. One year ago and one million people remain homeless, with less than 5 percent of the debris cleared from city streets. One year ago today. Why the lack of meaningful progress with rebuilding efforts? Before you draw any conclusion, let me provide some
Nicholas D. Kristof wants to improve our lot by attracting top talent to public education. And he has the proof that an excellent teacher will result in students earning an additional $500 per year. But his proof only works because he ignores the potential productivity lost when talent is drawn from other fields by his proposed $65,000 starting
Examples of a variant of what Mises termed the ultimate given regularly catch my attention. According to Mises, “Scientific research sooner or later, but inevitably, encounters something ultimately given that it cannot trace back to something else of which it would appear as the regular or necessary derivative.” In other words, the ultimate given
Intellectual property is a concept that is inherently flawed. In particular, missing is the absolutism that is central to the ownership of property. And this flaw caused me to drop intellectual property as a requisite attribute of liberty. The visit A few weekends ago, my father-in-law came over for a visit. While we sat outside after dinner, he
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.