by Ryan McMaken Every year around tax time, we’re reminded of the pain of the income tax. We’re reminded not just of the wealth that is taken, but also of all the time and energy that must be expended helping the federal government estimate just how much they should take … Read more

by Roy Cordato The saga of the so-called Charlotte bathroom ordinance — and the state of North Carolina’s response to it — has taken on a life of its own. At the national level leftists are accusing North Carolina of bigotry while, in the name of tolerance, a growing list … Read more

by George C. Leef Every so often, the issue of grade inflation makes the headlines, and we are reminded that grades are being debased continuously. That happened in late March when the two academics who have most assiduously studied grade inflation — Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher Healy — provided fresh … Read more

By Leonard E. Read Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. –LORD ACTON The question I wish to pose, and seek to answer, is this: Does government–organized force–have any more rightful role to play in education than in religion? The sage observation by Lord Acton (1834-1902) is really … Read more

  APRIL 1, 2015 — Frank Hollenbeck President Obama and Fed Chair Janet Yellen have been crowing about improving economic conditions in the US. Unemployment is down to 5.5 percent and growth in 2014 hit 2.2 percent. Journalists and economists point to this improvement as proof that quantitative easing was … Read more

FEBRUARY 17, 2015 — Jörg Guido Hülsmann This article is adapted from the foreword to Finance Behind the Veil of Money: An Austrian Theory of Financial Markets by Eduard Braun. The  classical  economists  had  rejected  the  notion that overall monetary spending — in current jargon: aggregate demand — is a … Read more

MARCH 16, 2015 — D. Brady Nelson Perhaps due to it not being as readily quantifiable as government taxation, debt, welfare, and money creation; regulation has too often been superficially dealt with. In many ways, the largely “hidden tax” of regulation is a bigger threat to liberty, economy, and morality … Read more