The Promise of Human Action

by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.




This speech was delivered at the Mises Institute, September 14, 1999, the date on which Human Action was published 50 years earlier. The Mises Institute has just published the pocket paperback edition.

In a 1949 memo circulated within Yale University Press, the publicity department expressed astonishment at the rapid sales of Ludwig von Mises's Human Action. How could such a dense tome, expensive by the standards of the day, written by an economist without a prestigious teaching position or any notable reputation at all in the United States, published against the advice of many on Yale's academic advisory board, sell so quickly that a second and third printing would be necessary in only a matter of months?

Imagine how shocked these same people would be to find that the first edition, reissued 50 years later as the Scholar's Edition of Human Action, would sell so quickly again.

How can we account for the continuing interest in this book? It is unquestionably the single most important scientific treatise on human affairs to appear in this century. But given the state of the social sciences, and the timelessness of Mises's approach to economics, I believe it will have an even greater impact on the next century. Indeed, it is increasingly clear that this is a book for the ages.

Making Parks Decent Again

How the private sector can save public parks

John Stossel

America is filled with parks that are filthy, dangerous, and badly maintained. The governments in charge plead: We can't help it. Our budgets have been slashed. We don't have enough money!

Bryant Park, in midtown Manhattan, was once such an unsavory place. But now it's nice. What changed? Dan Biederman essentially privatized the park.

With permission from frustrated officials who'd watch government repeatedly fail to clean up the park, Biederman raised private funds from "businesses around the park, real estate owners, concessions and events sponsorships. ... (S)ince 1996, we have not asked the city government for a single dollar."

Sounds good to me. But not to Shirley Kressel, a Boston journalist.

I asked her what's wrong with getting the money from private businesses, as Dan does.

"Because it goes into private pockets," she said.

So what?

"Because it's very good (for Dan) to use the public land for running a private business, a rent-a-park, where all year 'round there's commercial revenue from renting it out to businesses. He keeps all that money. People don't realize that."

So what? I don't care if they think the money is going to Mars. The park is nice, and people don't have to pay taxes to support it.

The park is certainly more "commercial" now. The day I videotaped, there were booths selling food and holiday gifts. The public seemed fine with that.

Read the Rest at Reason

Transportation

 P.J. O'Rourke

"We're told cars are wasteful. Wasteful of what? Oil did a lot of good sitting in the ground for millions of years. We're told cars should be replaced with mass transportation. But it's hard to reach the drive through window at McDonald's from a speeding train. And we're told cars cause pollution. A hundred years ago city streets were ankle deep in horse excrement. What kind of pollution do you want? Would you rather die of cancer at eighty or typhoid fever at nine?"

Headlines.... Just in Time

Pallbearers Carry Leslie Nielsen’s Coffin Without Incident

Excitement Growing Among Beatles Fans For Paul McCartney's Funeral

PRESIDENT MAKES SURPRISE VISIT TO AFGHANISTAN
Delivers Purple Hearts to U.S. servicemen, bags of cash to Afghani officials.

Senate Passes Food Safety Bill

After 51 senators get diarrhea from eating at Senate cafeteria.

Conservatives: Death Sentence For Those Who Leaked Classified Material
Except Scooter Libby.

David Letterman's "Top Ten Signs Your Neighbor Is The WikiLeaks Guy"

10. Name on mailbox reads 'WikiLeaks Guy'

9. Spends most of his free time burying stuff in the yard
8. He insists you speak directly into his necktie
7. More than once, you've caught him crawling in your ventilation ducts
6. He told you about Jeter's new contract at Thanksgiving
5. He insists you speak directly into his necktie — that joke was already in the Top Ten. We really need someone checking these things
4. On recycling day, he puts out cans, bottles, and classified documents
3. His idea of small talk is 'Good morning' and 'Want the coordinates of our secret military base in the Strait of Hormuz?'
2. Any time you talk to him, all he says is, 'I know. I know. I know . . . '
1. Gets drunk and takes a 'WikiLeak' on your porch — Hayo!

Libertarians, Power, and the Message of Freedom

by William L. Anderson

People who believe in liberty are in a minority, and it is a minority that few of us really can comprehend, as for the most part, libertarians cannot grasp the real costs that they will be facing in the coming years. Those of us who have spoken out against the abuses committed by those in power no longer will be ignored by those who control the police and "justice" apparatus, and we will be on the radar screens of those who believe they have the power to silence us.

In response to the call for a boycott of Amazon because it gave in to pressure from Sen. Joe Lieberman, I had this post on Lew Rockwell’s blog. The post was a brief compilation of some of my thoughts, but as I read it again, I realized that we are dealing with a much, much bigger issue than the debate about whether or not we should try to punish Amazon because of its actions.

The economics department where I teach, Frostburg State University, shares office space with the political science department, and like so many other Poli Sci departments across the country, it is a repository for Democratic Party activists. These are the Progressives who believe that every regulatory agency and every government department is forever protecting us from those evil corporations that seek to impoverish all of us, make us eat poison, foul our waters and air, and turn our temperate climate into something akin to what is experienced in summer in the Mojave Desert.

FCC Should Remain Neutral on Net Neutrality

posted by Michelle on Dec 07, 2010

The Federal Communications Commission chairman, Julius Genachowski, released a statement on December 1st addressing the issue of net neutrality. The FCC has proposed several regulations that would stop internet service providers from blocking or promoting any website over another. Essentially, internet users will be able to search any website they want without discretion from broadband companies. This proposal is set for a vote on December 21st, and if passed, the FCC will be able to regulate “net neutrality.”

But this FCC action is unwarranted and unfavorable both now and in the long run.

While the idea of equal consumer access to websites and information is desired, it’s important to question whether or not the government should be involved in the first place. Consider this Cato Institute policy analysis by Adam D. Thierer. It asserts that federal regulations on internet access are truly unjustified since providers have not shown any significant signs of web discrimination. The consumer demand for these regulations is minimal, if not absent, within the internet market. This preemptive strike against internet companies is unnecessary and further expands the government’s control over our personal actions and those of American businesses.

These regulations will transform open internet service in to a government commodity with hidden long- term consequences. An article published by The Ludwig von Mises Institute, discusses how net neutrality laws essentially decide who will have the responsibility of managing networks. Should it be the internet service providers (the actual owners of the network) or the government (outside regulators) who control how the internet gets distributed? The owners of the network have an incentive to provide the most open and accessible internet in order to satisfy consumer demand; whereas, the government operates within a policy framework unaffected by market forces.

If the FCC passes these regulations, the policy- driven internet service will be incapable of reacting to market changes; the only response will be an eventual decline in the growth of and investment in the internet companies that currently support these regulations.


More information on Net Neutrality:
The Phantom Menace in the ACLU's Case for Net Neutrality
The Durable Internet: Preserving Network Neutrality without Regulation
A Libertarian Take on Net Neutrality
Does Net Neutrality Promote Competition?

Michelle is an intern for the Libertarian National Committee in Washington D.C.

Warren Buffett endorses PB & J

Great Political Insights

"President Obama held a ceremony at the White House to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah. In response, Republicans said, 'It's even worse than we thought. He's a Jewish Muslim.'"

—Conan O'Brien

Gay Marriage and the Law

The battle over Proposition 8 inches closer to the Supreme Court

Damon W. Root

Towards the end of his landmark majority opinion in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), where the Supreme Court struck down that state’s anti-sodomy law as a violation of individual liberty, Justice Anthony Kennedy inserted a reference to the looming legal battle over gay marriage. The present case, Kennedy wrote, “does not involve whether the government must give formal recognition to any relationship that homosexual persons seek to enter.”


“Do not believe it,” snapped Justice Antonin Scalia in an angry dissent that accused the majority of having “largely signed on to the so-called homosexual agenda.” In Scalia’s view, Lawrence threw the door wide open for gay marriage. “Today’s opinion dismantles the structure of constitutional law that has permitted a distinction to be made between heterosexual and homosexual unions, insofar as formal recognition in marriage is concerned.”

Was Scalia correct? We may soon find out. On December 6 a three-judge panel of the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in the case of Perry v. Schwarzenegger. At issue is California’s Proposition 8, the controversial voter initiative which added the phrase “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California” to the state constitution. In August, federal district Judge Vaughn Walker—a Ronald Reagan appointee championed by conservative legal hero Edwin Meese—prompted the appeal by striking down Prop. 8 as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which commands that no state may “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.”

Read more Reason

Thoughts from Robert Anton Wilson

"Taking somebody's money without permission is stealing, unless you work for the IRS; then it's taxation. Killing people en masse is homicidal mania, unless you work for the Army; then it's National Defense. Spying on your neighbors is invasion of privacy, unless you work for the FBI; then it's National Security. Running a whorehouse makes you a pimp and poisoning people makes you a murderer, unless you work for the CIA; then it's counter-intelligence."

 Robert Anton Wilson

In the mood for TSA

Thoughts from Ron Paul

"When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads." 

Ron Paul, M.D., Republican congressman from Texas and Libertarian Party candidate for President in 1988

Pearls of Wisdom from Vice-President Joe Biden

Sons of Liberty

"What are all the Riches, the Luxeries, and even the Conveniences of Life compared with that Liberty where with God and Nature have set us free, with that inestimable Jewel which is the Basis of all other Employments?"

Alexander McDougall

Interesting Quotes

"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

Al Gore

The Dog-Biscuit Miracle

by David Bond

David Bond

Wallace, Idaho – To those in search of miracles, I give you this:


Without fail, every morning, give or take 5 minutes depending on the weather, at 0530 our newspaper appears on the front porch. Not in the weeds or the snow. On the front porch, right by the door, so a be-slippered old geezer can reach out for it without embarrassing his neighbours or getting frostbite on his toes, even in the dark.

The impeccable and predictable timing would be enough to remark upon. Except that, winter or summer, tucked into the newspaper is a dog biscuit. Whoever throws the paper on our porch has never met Chase, our dog, because he is inside the house at this dark hour. But Robert has heard a grump or a woof and figures somebody inside would like a treat.


Comes out of his own pocket, this newspaper-carrier's milk bone. Now, milk bones are not the most expensive of things, unless you buy them 365 days a year for the hundreds of dogs who live along his route. And I know that our paper-guy does this, because at 3:30 a.m., throwing papers way up in Mullan, he is doing the same thing for the dog-people there. I have witnesses.

Central Bank Secrecy and Corruption

End the Fed

by Matt Stoller

“We probably know more about tribes in the Amazon jungle than we do about the real nature of power in the United States. Neither political science, nor history, nor economics do very well on this.” ~ Tom Ferguson

Something new is happening around the contours of monetary policy. It’s becoming part of our popular political landscape. We saw this a few weeks ago, when Sarah Palin injected into the 2012 presidential race the idea of fundamentally reorganizing the Federal Reserve’s mandate. Republican Mike Pence, Senator Richard Shelby, and a host of other Republicans have jumped on this concept, and there will soon be legislation introduced to make this happen.


Beyond Republican politicians, the public is beginning to rethink our monetary order. A YouTube video on quantitative easing has over 3 million views. The video slams the Fed for missing the dotcom bubble, the subprime crisis, for being fundamentally undemocratic and unaccountable, and for being engaged in collusive dealings with Goldman Sachs. Financial blogs and CNBC discuss the Fed, and its associated characters, with deep insight and passion. And Bernanke drew 30 no votes in his confirmation hearing in 2009, the most ever for such a position, just four years after drawing almost none. The market nearly crashed on the possibility that Bernanke’s nomination would fail before the White House stepped up aggressive lobbying efforts. On the left, the last few years saw a remarkable grassroots coalition of economists and activists to bring transparency to the central bank, joining a long-sought libertarian crusade. I was a staffer for Rep. Alan Grayson, who was working with that coalition to require an independent audit of the Federal Reserve. Tomorrow, because of provisions put into Dodd-Frank by Senator Bernie Sanders and Congressmen Grayson and Ron Paul, the Federal Reserve will release details of its 2007-2010 emergency loans to the web.

The Rest is at Lew Rockwell

Intervention

"If you want government to intervene domestically, you're a liberal. If you want government to intervene overseas, you're a conservative. If you want government to intervene everywhere, you're a moderate. If you don't want government to intervene anywhere, you're an extremist."

Joseph Sobran (1995)

Interesting Quotes

“This whole thing about not kicking someone when they are down is b.s. Not only do you kick him—you kick him until he passes out—then beat him over the head with a baseball bat—then roll him up in an old rug—and throw him off a cliff into the pounding surf below!!!!!”

Michael Scanlon, former chief of staff to Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) and business partner of convicted felon Jack Abramoff, during the Clinton impeachment proceedings.