Distinctions with a Difference

"Capitalism" and the "free market" has come in for a lot of criticism recently. Thomas Frank in the WSJ, for example, calls our recent economic problems "a cataclysmic series of market failures." But a proper prescription first requires a proper diagnosis; similarly, one should properly identify what capitalism and the free market are before undertaking to criticize them. Frank's analysis, as well as that of many others, indicates that there are some important distinctions to be drawn.

Football and the Military Academies

The University of Chicago ended its powerhouse D-I football program in 1946 because it was becoming too much of a distraction from academic excellence. Should the military academies do the same today?

The Real "Randslide"?

If Rand Paul is really a racist, does that mean that the Tea Party is really a racist organization? If the Tea Party is really a racist organization, does that mean their concerns--particularly their concerns about America's fiscal situation--are unworthy of serious consideration? If their concerns are unworthy of serious consideration, does that mean that America will not make the difficult and painful decisions it seems it needs to to avoid fiscal collapse? If America doesn't make those difficult and painful decisions and faces fiscal collapse, does that mean we face global fiscal collapse?

Talk about a butterfly effect!

Regulation and Knavery

David Hume wrote that it was a "just political maxim, that every man must be supposed a knave." I think this maxim applies to the finance reform bill just passed by the senate.

Cake and Gravy

More on New Jersey teachers' union shenanigans: "Let them eat cake, and pass my gravy."

The Marketplace of Ideas Is Imperfect

Markets fail--all markets, not just economic markets--because perfect competition never obtains. The failures of the "marketplace of ideas" imposes, I argue, particular obligations on academics, because one central plank in the academic's code of professional ethics is to seek truth above all else. I argue the two obligations it imposes on us are: (1) to encourage and nurture people presenting propositions or worldviews that call our own into question, and (2), where such people are not forthcoming, to take up those contrarian positions ourselves, to the best of our ability.

I make the case here.

Here's the Fuss

About a month ago, Jonathan Capehart asked, "Hey, Tea Party, why all the fuss?" Here is why.

State Aggression and Defensive Action

Can non-violent state encroachment on individual liberty, or other non-violent action of the state, ever rise to the level of bona fide aggression? Can it ever justify defensive, even violent defensive, action? Possibly.

Quick Hits

Some quick thoughts on Governor Chris Christie, debt and Frederic Bastiat, The Economist magazine, and steroid use in the NFL and in MLB.

Government Failure

We hear a lot about market failure, but the government fails a lot too. In fact, its record includes some spectacular failures, which I think should be part of our reckoning when comparing it with private enterprise.

Arizona and the Genetic Fallacy

Are both the supporters and opponents of the Arizona immigration law committing the "genetic fallacy" of supporting (or criticizing) a law because of the motivations that gave rise to it, instead of on the basis of the law's merits (or demerits) themselves? Jack Weinstein raises this as an open question. I believe they are indeed committing the fallacy, or at least some of them are.

Bullish or Bearish on the United States?

If you had to put all your chips on the prospects of a single country's prosperity over the next 100 years, which country would it be? Would you pick the United States? It pains me to say that I am not sure I would.