The Minimum Wage: Bad for Low-Skilled Workers

My article "The Minimum Wage: Bad for Low-Skilled Workers" now appears at the American Institute for Economic Research.

TGIF: The American Way of War

The most striking fact about the United States of America is not its supposed founding principles — more often lauded than observed — but how often “the greatest country on earth” has waged war. If we count wars against internal “enemies” (i.e., the Indians), covert foreign wars, and aid to other states’ aggressive external and internal wars, we can see the United States has been at war almost continuously since it broke free from Britain. By one estimate this nation has been at war 214 out of the 228 years since the Constitution took effect — that’s 94 percent of the time — and there were wars during the Articles of Confederation period too. Contrary to popular misconception, the war state did not begin in 1945. From the start, war was an acceptable means to national policy ends, whether to open markets or to install friendly regimes.

Read TGIF at The Libertarian Institute.

TGIF (The Goal Is Freedom) appears on Fridays. Sheldon Richman, author of America's Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited, keeps the blog Free Association and is executive editor of The Libertarian Institute. He is also a senior fellow and chair of the trustees of the Center for a Stateless Society and a contributing editor at Antiwar.com. Become a Free Association patron today!

Privatization Is the Best Infrastructure Program

My article "Privatization Is the Best Infrastructure Program" was published by the American Institute for Economic Research.

Mandated Paid Family Leave Harms Its Intended Beneficiaries

My latest article at the American Institute for Economic Research is "Mandated Paid Family Leave Harms Its Intended Beneficiaries."

Scrap the Border-Adjustment Tax

My latest article for the American Institute for Economic Research is "Scrap the Border-Adjustment Tax."

TGIF: Wrong Lessons from the Congressional Shootings

I’ll start off by saying that no one should commit violence except as a last resort in immediate defense of self or other innocent life. I know this subject lends itself to endless hypothetical scenarios, but that’s all I’m going to say — except for this: political violence has a poor chance of achieving liberty or any other good thing, but an excellent chance of producing repression by the state and other bad things. It carries within itself the seeds of many evils, so even in purported good causes, violence as a strategy must be viewed with the deepest apprehension.

Read TGIF at The Libertarian Institute.

TGIF (The Goal Is Freedom) appears on Fridays. Sheldon Richman, author of America's Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited, keeps the blog Free Association and is executive editor of The Libertarian Institute. He is also a senior fellow and chair of the trustees of the Center for a Stateless Society and a contributing editor at Antiwar.com. Become a Free Association patron today!

Withdrawal from the Paris Accord Won’t Impede American Business

My latest article for the American Institute for Economic Research is "Withdrawal from the Paris Accord Won’t Impede American Business."

TGIF: Let's All Calm Down about Russia

I can understand why the ruling elite, broadly conceived to include the intel bureaucracy and the military-industrial complex, has an interest in positing Russia as our enemy. The reasons are obvious enough. What I can't understand is why common Americans would fall for it. They have everything to lose and nothing to gain from swallowing this line.

Read TGIF at The Libertarian Institute.

TGIF (The Goal Is Freedom) appears on Fridays. Sheldon Richman, author of America's Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited, keeps the blog Free Association and is executive editor of The Libertarian Institute. He is also a senior fellow and chair of the trustees of the Center for a Stateless Society and a contributing editor at Antiwar.com. Become a Free Association patron today!

TGIF: An Idiot Abroad

I've got a few leftover thoughts from Donald Trump's trip to Europe. As usual, I oppose both Trump and his mainstream critics. It's possible for both sides to be wrong in a dispute.

Read TGIF at The Libertarian Institute.

TGIF (The Goal Is Freedom) appears on Fridays. Sheldon Richman, author of America's Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited, keeps the blog Free Association and is executive editor of The Libertarian Institute. He is also a senior fellow and chair of the trustees of the Center for a Stateless Society and a contributing editor at Antiwar.com. Become a Free Association patron today!