This year’s ranking of Illinois among the worst states for business and the retrial of Rod Blagojevich for corruption — meaning he could become the fourth Illinois governor in recent years to go to prison — have inspired the following update: Illinois: Where governors go to jail and business can go to hell. Just a […]
New state motto for Illinois Read More »
First, the government monopoly: CNN Money reports that the “U.S. Postal Service reports $2.2 billion loss” in the first quarter of 2011 and expects to lose lots more. Second, two private market companies: Reuters reports that United Parcel Service’s “profit tops estimates” but, sadly, that FedEx’s profits “fell 3 percent to $231 million.” One question
FedEx and UPS versus USPS Read More »
[Update: I received a note of apology from the author and the post has been retracted. Thank you to everyone who acted on my behalf to correct the error.] What can I say? According to Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website, Professor Stephen Hicks of Rockford College is a Marxist devoted to educating cadres of revolutionaries.
Am I really a Marxist revolutionary? Read More »
September 11, 2001 was almost ten years ago. The Middle-East since then: Yasser Arafat died, exact cause unknown, in 2004. Saddam Hussein was executed in 2006. Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011. In 2009, Teheran, Iran saw political riots. 2010 saw major and minor protests in a dozen middle-eastern and north African countries spilling
The decade since 9/11 Read More »
Egalitarianism wins. Chipotle restaurant lost an appeal opportunity when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Chipotle had been sued by a wheelchair-bound customer who complained that while other customers could see their food being prepared a four-foot high counter blocked his view from his wheelchair perspective. The plaintiff argued that his rights
Chipotle Mexican Grill versus egalitarianism Read More »
Over the last 80 years, the world rankings of Hong Kong and Argentina: Resource-poor Hong Kong’s relatively laissez-faire free market has taken it from poverty to riches. Resource-rich Argentina’s experiments in statism have taken it from prosperity to decline and semi-functionality. In this Wall Street Journal/Heritage ranking, Hong Kong is currently first in the world
Argentina, Hong Kong, and the psychology of belief Read More »
My essay, Defending Shylock: Productive Work in Financial Markets, is now available in Kindle format. In this essay, I discuss the great value that financial markets add to an economy and the nature of the intellectual work that underlays them. In addition, I argue against the critics of financial markets who argue that those who
Defending Shylock — Kindle version Read More »
I’m looking forward to learning new things at my APEE session tomorrow on “Hayek and Rand on Values.” The panelists are Emily Chamlee-Wright, Steve Horwitz, Edward Hudgins, and William Kline, each of whom knows a lot about both Hayek and Rand. At the opening banquet tonight, we heard an address from Lin Ostrom, 2009 Nobel
APEE update — Elinor Ostrom Read More »