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Libertarian news and updates. The latest news and feature articles from the best libertarian sources. News for people who believe in the free market.

Supreme Court Protects Gun Rights, Fails to Restore Greater Freedom
5 Mar 2010 at 12:00am
The Supreme Court heard oral argument in McDonald v. Chicago this week — the Second Amendment case with implications far beyond gun rights. The Court is quite likely to extend the right to keep and bear arms to the states and thereby invalidate the Chicago handgun ban at issue, but the Court did not seem inclined to adopt arguments that the Privileges or Immunities Clause was the way to go. First, some background: The Constitution limits how much the federal government ca...

Obama Ramming through Health Care Overhaul
5 Mar 2010 at 12:00am
Despite polls that show that most Americans oppose the Democrats' health care plan, and lagging support for the bill in both houses of Congress, President Obama has made it clear that he will attempt to use "reconciliation," a parliamentary procedure that only requires a simple majority in the Senate, to pass the health care bill. Cato Senior Fellow Michael D. Tanner explains how reconciliation works, and the risk involved: For those not versed in the arcane rule...

Cato Quick Hits
5 Mar 2010 at 12:00am
Six reasons to downsize the federal government. Many European countries are working toward privatizing their government post offices.  The United States should do the same. How countries run into fiscal crisis - Just follow these 10 easy steps! Al Gore's global warming whopper. David Rittgers: Why both the Left and Right are wrong about using drones to counter terrorism worldwide.

Ending the Debate over Health Care
26 Feb 2010 at 12:00am
President Obama hosted a bipartisan summit on health care reform on Thursday in a final attempt to find common ground with Republicans on the issue. Little was found. The entire six-hour summit was televised, and Cato scholars offered live commentary at the Cato@Liberty blog. Cato Senior Fellow Michael D. Tanner writes that in the entire exchange, neither side brought up the real problems with health care: If President Obama's health care summit showed anything, it is that when it comes to...

Should the Military End "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"?
26 Feb 2010 at 12:00am
The debate over whether gays and lesbians can openly serve in the military has reignited over the past few weeks, as Pentagon officials and policymakers decide whether the "Don't ask, don't tell policy," enacted by Congress in 1993, should be repealed. Cato Legal Policy Analyst David Rittgers, who served in the United States Army as an Infantry and Special Forces officer, explains the weaknesses in the case for DADT. Contrary to the claims of some conservatives, gays can and do serve in th...

VA to automate its Agent Orange claims process
15 hours ago
Posted by R. Lee Wrights
“The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to announce today that it will fully automate how it pays claims for illnesses related to exposure to the chemical Agent Orange to keep an overburdened system from collapse. It is the department’s first effort at automating claims processing in its 80-year history, says VA chief technology officer Peter [...]

Pakistan: Five killed in US drone attack
15 hours ago
Posted by R. Lee Wrights
“A U.S. drone fired two to three missiles at a house in northwest Pakistan, close to the Afghan border, killing at least five people and wounding four others, officials said Monday. The house was located in Miram Shah in North Waziristan. There was no information on who was targeted in the attack, although the U.S., [...]

Iraq: Six wounded
15 hours ago
Posted by Thomas L. Knapp
“After yesterday?s spasm of violence, Iraq was unusually quiet. … Six people were wounded by gunfire during post-election celebrations in Kirkuk. In Baghdad, a bomb exploded without leaving casualties in the Adhamiya neighborhood.” (03/08/10)

Afghanistan: McChrystal eyes securing Kandahar
15 hours ago
Posted by R. Lee Wrights
“The top U.S. general in Afghanistan vowed that coalition forces ‘are absolutely going to secure Kandahar,’ as security efforts expand in the country’s south. ‘We already are doing a lot of security operations in Kandahar, but it’s our intent — under President [Hamid] Karzai — to make an even greater effort there,’ Gen. Stanley McChrystal [...]

US on schedule to draw down troops in Iraq by August
15 hours ago
Posted by R. Lee Wrights
“Iraqi forces are on track to assume control of the country’s security, and the United States is on course to draw down its troops to 50,000 by President Obama’s August deadline, U.S. officials said today. Iraqis voted this weekend in a historic parliamentary election that Obama hailed Sunday as an ‘important milestone’ in the country’s [...]

Obama regime eases restrictions on Web services exports to Iran, Cuba
15 hours ago
Posted by Thomas L. Knapp
“The US Treasury Department today relaxed export regulations against Iran, Sudan, and Cuba, allowing US companies to provide instant messaging, e-mail, and social networking services to those countries. The goal is to ensure that citizens can ‘exercise their most basic rights,’ said Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin. The new policy provides a general license to [...]

IMF suggests how to raise climate change funds
15 hours ago
Posted by R. Lee Wrights
“The head of the International Monetary Fund on Monday proposed a plan for the world’s governments to pool together to raise money needed to adapt to climate change, a rare step for an organization that normally does not develop environmental policies. IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the Fund is concerned about the huge amount [...]

Pakistan: American operative?s capture uncertain, officials say
15 hours ago
Posted by R. Lee Wrights
“Despite numerous news reports that Pakistan has arrested an American al-Qaida operative in the port city of Karachi, the U.S. government is unaware that anyone affiliated with the terrorist network, American or otherwise, has been captured in Pakistan recently, U.S. officials said Monday. ‘None of this appears to be fact at this point,’ said a [...]

Obama still wants to abide by Constitution for some Gitmo suspects
16 hours ago
Posted by R. Lee Wrights
“White House aides are increasingly convinced that accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will never face trial in a civilian court and are trying to cut a deal that would still transfer Guantanamo Bay terrorism suspects to the U.S., where many would faces [sic] criminal charges, a senior administration official said Monday. President Barack Obama [...]

Haiti frees US missionary; group leader still held
16 hours ago
Posted by R. Lee Wrights
“One of two Baptist missionaries still held on kidnapping charges in Haiti was released and flew to Miami on Monday, but the U.S. group’s leader remained in custody. Charisa Coulter, 24, was taken from her jail cell to the airport by U.S. Embassy staff more than a month after she and nine other Americans were [...]

Chile: Looters give up stolen goods
17 hours ago
Posted by Steve Trinward
“The police came with bullhorns to impoverished neighborhoods near the epicenter of Chile?s devastating earthquake, warning looters to return what they stole or face police raids. And so they did, depositing everything from mattresses to refrigerators and flat-screen TVs. It took 35 truckloads to recover it all. Together with looted merchandise recovered by police, the [...]

Global warming doubts could hamper [sic] climate legislation
17 hours ago
Posted by Steve Trinward
“A recent poll suggests that high-profile controversies regarding climate science are weakening public confidence in the validity of global warming, And that could endanger congressional efforts to pass climate legislation. In 2008, 71 percent of respondents said they thought global warming was happening, while 10 percent thought it wasn?t. This year, only 57 percent thought [...]

TN: State may tax hotels for free breakfast
17 hours ago
Posted by Steve Trinward
“The so-called complimentary breakfasts at many hotels in Tennessee have stirred the appetite of state revenue officials. The state wants to tax the lodging businesses for the food that they offer as free breakfasts as part of their room rate. The budget-strapped state hopes to get an estimated $1 to $2 million for its coffers [...]

CA: Man allegedly took exams for Middle Eastern students
17 hours ago
Posted by Steve Trinward
“Daniel Higgins doesn’t look like a Middle Eastern student, but officials say he routinely portrayed himself as one for almost a decade, getting paid up to $1,500 per student to attend their classes and take exams so they could keep their visas current and remain in the U.S. Officials say that records seized from Higgins’ [...]

MA: Nursing home drug use puts many at risk
17 hours ago
Posted by Steve Trinward
“Nearly 2,500 nursing home residents in Massachusetts were given powerful antipsychotic drugs last year that were not intended or recommended for their medical condition, a practice that is more common here than in most other states, according to a Globe analysis of federal data. Data collected by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [...]

New rocket engine could reach Mars in 40 days
21 hours ago
Posted by Thomas L. Knapp
“Future Mars outposts or colonies may seem more distant than ever with NASA’s exploration plans in flux, but the rocket technology that could someday propel a human mission to the red planet in as little as 40 days may already exist. A company founded by former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz has been developing a new [...]

WI: ACORN registration workers charged with felony voter fraud
23 hours ago
Posted by Thomas L. Knapp
“Five Wisconsin residents, including two who worked for community organizing group ACORN, were charged Monday with election fraud relating to the 2008 presidential election. State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced felony charges against Maria Miles, Kevin Clancy, Michael Henderson, Herbert Gunka and Suzanne Gunka. Miles and Clancy worked for the Association of Community Organizations [...]

Obama: Time to debate health care over
8 Mar 2010 at 2:36pm
Posted by Thomas L. Knapp
“President Obama on Monday tore into private health insurers for recent rate hikes, taking a more aggressive rhetorical turn as he pushes for final congressional passage of his top domestic priority. Obama repeated his assertion that the plan under consideration includes the best Democratic and Republican ideas. The time for debate has ended, he argued. [...]

SCOTUS to rule in military funeral protest case
8 Mar 2010 at 1:30pm
Posted by Thomas L. Knapp
“The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will review whether the anti-gay protests at funerals of American soldiers are protected by the First Amendment. The case is brought by a Maryland father whose son’s 2006 funeral was picketed by members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan. Westboro pastor Fred Phelps contends that the [...]

SCOTUS to decide if vaccine makers can be sued
8 Mar 2010 at 1:28pm
Posted by Thomas L. Knapp
“The Supreme Court said on Monday that it would decide whether a federal law protects vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits in state court seeking damages for alleged design defects. The high court agreed to hear a Pennsylvania case involving a lawsuit by the parents of a child who suffered seizures after her third dose of a [...]

Harry Browne and Andrew J. Galambos
7 hours ago
Posted by Jeff Riggenbach

The Inflationist View of History
5 Mar 2010 at 10:37am
Posted by Ludwig von Mises

Skyscrapers and Business Cycles
5 Mar 2010 at 10:23am
Posted by Mark Thornton

Salmasius: High-Water Mark of Early-Modern Interest Theory
3 Mar 2010 at 9:38am
Posted by Murray N. Rothbard

Mr. Libertarian, Murray N. Rothbard
2 Mar 2010 at 9:17am
Posted by Jeff Riggenbach

My Battle Against the Fed
27 Feb 2010 at 5:30pm
Posted by Ron Paul

The Source and Workings of the Latest Crisis
27 Feb 2010 at 5:22pm
Posted by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

Heckle and Jekyll: How Murray Rothbard Got the Fed's Story Right
27 Feb 2010 at 5:19pm
Posted by Gary North

The Fed's Dismal Record
27 Feb 2010 at 5:17pm
Posted by George A. Selgin

What Were They Saying in July 2007?
27 Feb 2010 at 11:05am
Posted by Mark Thornton

The Macroeconomics of the Fed: Mainstream and Austrian
27 Feb 2010 at 11:02am
Posted by Joseph T. Salerno

Parallel Lives: Liberty or Power?
26 Feb 2010 at 4:16pm
Posted by Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.

Failure and Prosperity
26 Feb 2010 at 4:14pm
Posted by Doug French

Did Keynesian Economics Win the Battle of Ideas?
26 Feb 2010 at 4:12pm
Posted by Peter G. Klein

Why the Fed Got Birthed
26 Feb 2010 at 4:10pm
Posted by Christopher Westley

Only the Austrians Can Explain Depressions
26 Feb 2010 at 4:06pm
Posted by Robert P. Murphy

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The Scandinavian-Welfare Myth Revisited
9 hours ago
Obama seems hell-bent on expanding the US welfare state at any cost, and of course no welfare-state debate is complete without bringing up the Scandinavian countries as the example of statism causing prosperity.


A Strategy for the Right
12 hours ago
If we know what the Old Right was against, what were they for? In general terms, they were for a restoration of the liberty of the old republic, of a government strictly limited to the defense of the rights of private property.


Inventive Progress
13 hours ago
When the American Revolution had its beginning, living conditions had scarcely changed since the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. The colonial woman gathered her own firewood and cooked over an open fire...


Self-Ownership
8 Mar 2010 at 5:36am
By no process of the mind can the owner of the slave cause the slave to flex a single muscle. The only process open to the slave owner is to impose force or the threat of force.


The Global Debt Crisis
8 Mar 2010 at 3:18am
As the ominous example of Japan shows us, soaring debt levels (resulting from fiscal stimulus and low growth) and financial forbearance (socializing private losses) is not a recipe for economic success.


Trade Deficits and Fiat Currencies
8 Mar 2010 at 3:18am
There is a definite connection between fiat currencies and trade deficits. Critics of the Federal Reserve are right to blame it for distorting trade flows and setting the US economy up for an inflationary crash.


The Inflationist View of History
5 Mar 2010 at 6:45am
With an inflationary or deflationary policy, a government does not promote the public welfare, the commonweal, or the interests of the whole nation. It merely favors one or several groups of the population at the expense of other groups.


Garet Garrett's Invaluable Lesson
5 Mar 2010 at 4:27am
The current fiscal situation is not unprecedented. High public and private debt has been the bane of large governments for the entirety of written history. Garet Garrett explains the problem and solution.


Krugman Fails to "Get It" on Japan
5 Mar 2010 at 3:18am
It never occurs to Krugman that the policies of high leverage and of gambling on inflated asset values would not happen systematically if government were not acting behind the scenes.


Austrian Economics and Classical Liberalism
4 Mar 2010 at 6:45am
Classical liberalism ? which we shall call here simply liberalism ? is based on the conception of civil society as, by and large, self-regulating when its members are free to act within very wide bounds of their individual rights.


Pirate Radio
4 Mar 2010 at 3:18am
The fight against a government monopoly and edict that stifle commerce and keep consumers from consuming the media they desire is a story worth telling and championing.


Beware of Government Bonds
4 Mar 2010 at 3:18am
The government doesn't create new goods by credit-financed spending. Debt financing allows the government to considerably increase its grip over scarce resources, diverting their use.


Because We Want to Fly
3 Mar 2010 at 3:18am
It is a marvel that the system works despite these and countless other interventions in the natural right to travel. Think of the numerous coordination problems that get solved, daily, at the major airports of the world.


The Defense of Orphans: A Libertarian Approach
3 Mar 2010 at 3:16am
Private firms and networks offering the defense of children would, if allowed by state authorities, immediately spring up all around Haiti, simply because the general community demands their defense.


Salmasius: High-Water Mark of Early-Modern Interest Theory
3 Mar 2010 at 3:16am
Salmasius pointed out that moneylending was a business like any other, and thereby entitled to charge a market price. Competition lowers the price. If one doesn't like high interest rates, the more usurers the better!


Money and the Individual
2 Mar 2010 at 4:27am
Ludwig von Mises's book came as the culmination and fulfillment of the "Austrian School" of economics, and yet, in so doing, founded a new school of thought of its own.


Some Thoughts on Supply-side Economics
2 Mar 2010 at 4:27am
When Keynes's General Theory was published, there was no reason to believe that it would soon serve as the framework for 40 years of economic theory and policy. Every important economist of that era condemned the book.


The Humanitarian War Fallacy
2 Mar 2010 at 3:18am
Humanitarian war, just as any other war, implies some costs in the form of suffering or death of innocent victims. But this suffering or death is justified if it is a necessary collective sacrifice for a greater benefit.


Failure and Prosperity
2 Mar 2010 at 2:09am


Complicit
1 Mar 2010 at 4:27am
Mr. Gilbert takes the reader on a tour of almost-impossible-to-believe tales of greed, stupidity, and woe across eleven short, engaging chapters. Then, at the end, he misses the point.


The Birth of a Man
1 Mar 2010 at 3:18am
The American government is no more worthy in its present formation and policy to raise a banner of freedom than is the thundering crew of political slave masters headquartered in the Kremlin.


Inventories Don't Kill Growth ? People Kill Growth
1 Mar 2010 at 3:16am
The most destructive ideas in academia are those that are technically defensible but nonetheless encourage erroneous intuitions. In economic science, a prime example of such a destructive idea is GDP accounting.


The Politics of Étienne de La Boétie
26 Feb 2010 at 5:36am
The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude is lucidly and coherently structured around a single axiom, a single percipient insight into the nature not only of tyranny but implicitly of the State apparatus itself.


A Society of Criminals
26 Feb 2010 at 5:36am
All talk about free markets vs market intervention, capitalism vs socialism, deregulation vs regulation, and so on, is just a disguised way of presenting the dichotomy between a society of law and a society of criminals.


The Politics of Obedience
26 Feb 2010 at 4:27am
I should like merely to understand how it happens that so many men, so many villages, so many cities, so many nations, sometimes suffer under a single tyrant who has no other power than the power they give him.

The State Grants No Quarter to Freedom
25 Feb 2010 at 4:24am
What story is told by an examination of the United States' coinage? It is a story of debasement and degradation, a story of decline in prestige, prosperity, and purpose.


Legislation and Law in a Free Society
25 Feb 2010 at 3:18am
The primacy of legislation should be abandoned. We should return to a system of judge-found law. Scholars who codify naturally evolved law have a vital function but they should not ask for the governmental imprimatur.


Opening the Internet ? with an Axe
25 Feb 2010 at 3:18am
As always, governments want citizens to believe that private enterprises have some kind of power over them. But the reality is just the contrary: it is the operator who is at the mercy of the customer.


Inflation as the Enemy of Investing
24 Feb 2010 at 4:27am
For those who are interested in accumulating wealth and willing to put the time and hard work toward that end, Joseph Calandro Jr. has masterfully melded the work of Graham and Dodd with Austrian business-cycle theory.


Erasmus on War
24 Feb 2010 at 3:18am
If there is in the affairs of mortal men any one thing which it is proper uniformly to explode, and incumbent on every man by every lawful means to avoid, to deprecate, to oppose, that one thing is doubtless war.