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Friday
April 18, 2014
News
Another Invention goes down the drain of cheap mass-market copies
by Vera S. Doerr
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First Nestlé is forced to reveal the construction of it's coffee-pods to competitors - next the lazy bums want to be also informed when the coffee-machine-design gets changed so they can implement any innovations in their pods without the cost of innovation.

Let's see how far the 'dog-eats-dog' rule is behind the 'antitrust dogwatch'.

Sadly that's just one example of many what goes on here in Europe: Atlas Shrugged all over again ... with one tiny fault: Ayn Rand got the timeline wrong - I won't see the lights go out in my lifetime ;)

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Friday
April 25, 2014
Commentary
Harm and Coercion
by Joseph Rowlands
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Discussions of initiations of force are often a little vague in the details. For instance, it is common to regard any use of force as a kind of coercion. This makes some sense as any use of force is a violation of the victim's consent. You are forcing an interaction on them that they wouldn't otherwise choose. But ther... (Read more...)
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Wednesday
April 30, 2014
Commentary
Public Choice Theory is Overlooked
by Tibor R. Machan
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Whenever public officials promise to manage affairs of state, I am baffled how they fail to pay heed to public choice theory.  This is the idea, for which the late, great James Buchanan, earned his Nobel Prize (an idea he developed with his friend and colleague Gordon Tullock in the book The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy [Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1962].).  

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Wednesday
May 7, 2014
Commentary
Housing Prices
by Joseph Rowlands
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When the housing bubble deflated somewhat, people started panicking over how low the housing prices were dropping. Politicians started looking for ways of improving things. They wanted to prevent banks from foreclosing quickly. They wanted to provide some guaranteed loans. They wanted to lower the interest rate. They w... (Read more...)
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Tuesday
May 13, 2014
Methodology
On Rape and Pragmatism
by Tibor R. Machan
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Something not often noted in the discussion of rape across the globe is that in an age that prizes pragmatism as opposed to firm principles of conduct, even rape can be excused based on the expected benefit to the rapist versus injury to the victim.

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Wednesday
May 21, 2014
Commentary
Carpool Lanes
by Joseph Rowlands
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Many freeways and major roads have additional lanes set aside for carpools. This acts as a kind of reward system for people to drive with others instead of taking their own cars. The expectation is that it will reduce the number of cars being driven, and it may have environmental impact by reducing the amount of pollut... (Read more...)
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Tuesday
May 27, 2014
War for Men's Minds
Arrogance of Power!
by Tibor R. Machan
Sanctions: 18Sanctions: 18Sanctions: 18 Sanction this ArticleEditMark as your favorite article

Just how utterly reliant on sheer power is President Obama can be appreciated from the fact that no one in his administration bothers to defend his policy of confiscating people’s resources.  Apart from calling upon the phony support of a few super rich folks like Warren Buffet -- who, I understand, is by no means offering his own wealth up for use by Mr. Obama (instead engaging in customary dodging and weaving, not paying up) -- no argument has been put forth by the administration for the progressive tax policy it relies upon. 

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Monday
June 2, 2014
Commentary
Criminal Morality
by Joseph Rowlands
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There's a widespread idea that there is one universally accepted view of morality. Occasionally, people will develop a slightly more nuanced view and suggest that each country or culture has its own morality. But even here, it is accepted that within that culture, there is a universal recognition of what is and isn't m... (Read more...)
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Sunday
June 8, 2014
Commentary
Republicans for Voldemort
by Michael E. Marotta
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If Voldemort were a Republican, it would be  unnecessary, like "Republicans for Palin."

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Saturday
June 14, 2014
Commentary
The Erosion of Our Freedom
by Tibor R. Machan
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Often when I argue that governments must not violate our rights--they are supposed to be unalienable, after all--statists have a ready retort:  Government is already violating them, good and hard, all over the place.  

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Thursday
June 19, 2014
Commentary
Too Strident
by Joseph Rowlands
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While talking to some atheists, I mentioned that there was something about many people in the atheist movement that bothered me. Before I could say what it was, they tried to guess. They assumed I was talking about how strident some atheists are, like Richard Dawkins. They talked about him and others as if they are bel... (Read more...)
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Tuesday
June 24, 2014
Commentary
A Culture of Reality, Reason, and Freedom
by Michael E. Marotta
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Minarchists claim that a constitutionally-limited government is the best protection for our rights, and therefore our best option for a peaceful world. Free market anarchists disagree with that.  Minarchists reply that eventually, the largest private defense agency inevitably will become the new government. Without a historical record, the theoretical arguments could not be resolved. In fact, empirical evidence abounds. 

 

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Tuesday
July 1, 2014
Commentary
Preexisting Conditions
by Joseph Rowlands
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One of the more depressing looks at the Tea Party movement was a survey about what they thought of Obama's healthcare plan. The good news was that they were against it. The bad news was that they were happy to keep the rule preventing insurance companies from not insuring people that had preexisting conditions. The ind... (Read more...)
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Monday
July 7, 2014
Commentary
Use of Banks and Dollars: Enabling Infringements on Your Liberty
by Dean Michael Gores
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Banks and dollars had been great, because they helped us trade honest market goods. They still perform this service, which is wonderful. ... (Read more...)
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Saturday
July 12, 2014
Commentary
Occam's Razor
by Joseph Rowlands
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The law of parsimony, or Occam's razor, suggests that among competing hypotheses, the simplest should be selected. Which one is simpler? The one with the fewest number of assumptions. ... (Read more...)
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Friday
July 18, 2014
Commentary
An Analysis of Egoism and Altruism
by Merlin Jetton
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Friday
July 25, 2014
Commentary
Taking Charity
by Joseph Rowlands
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I once wrote about how certain situations can punish the just and benefit the unjust. One scenario I described was when someone offers upfront to pay for your lunch. An unjust person would delight in taking advantage of the situation and ordering more expensive food or more of it. They would be willing to be wasteful. ... (Read more...)
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Thursday
July 31, 2014
War for Men's Minds
Precious Metals Dealers Embargo Minnesota
by Michael E. Marotta
Sanctions: 6Sanctions: 6 Sanction this ArticleEditMark as your favorite article

Effective July 1, 2014, anyone who wants to sell any coin of more than 1% precious metal content must pay 10% of their estimated annual gross income to the state of Minnesota.  Like all bad laws, this one achieves the exact opposite of its stated intention. Rather than making Minnesota "safe for bullion" they are preventing all coin sales to anyone from Minnesota.

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Thursday
August 7, 2014
Commentary
Playing the Auction House
by Joseph Rowlands
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I played World of Warcraft a few years back. One of the most interesting features of the game is an auction house they created. Players can put stuff that they find throughout the game up for sale. Other players can search for items, place bids on them, or buy them outright. Items can be placed for sale for 24 to 48 ho... (Read more...)
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Wednesday
August 13, 2014
Commentary
Rare Position
by Joseph Rowlands
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There is one idea in topic of morality that I think is essential for people to recognize and understand. It is the idea that there are many different moral systems in the world. The prevalent belief is that there is some universally recognized thing called morality that describes a very specific set of policies or valu... (Read more...)
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Tuesday
August 19, 2014
War for Men's Minds
The Statists' Continued Folly!
by Tibor R. Machan
Sanctions: 5Sanctions: 5 Sanction this ArticleEditMark as your favorite article

          Krugman has a regular column in The Times, so he can discuss what he chooses to discuss so why is he fussing, as he did in a recent column, that others have other topics they wish to discuss not the ones he likes? Must we all take the lead of Krugman? What conceit!

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Tuesday
August 26, 2014
Commentary
Changing One Thing
by Joseph Rowlands
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A very common mistake that people make is that they imagine a world where one thing changes, while everything else stays the same. They don't realize how connected things are, and how making a change can have significant, and sometimes undesirable, consequences. ... (Read more...)
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Saturday
September 6, 2014
Commentary
Winners and Losers
by Joseph Rowlands
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There's one conversation I've had over and over with different people. There are many starting points, but the ending point is the same. They present a belief that if the world had a large number of much smarter people, the people who are currently doing well would end up paid less and in more menial jobs. The basic fe... (Read more...)
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Thursday
September 11, 2014
Intellectual Ammunition
Doubting One’s Mind
by Tibor R. Machan
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A central topic of philosophy throughout the ages has been whether human

beings can trust their minds, including their sensory awareness and
thinking. Skepticism about this has been a major challenge and many from
Socrates to such recent and current thinkers as Ayn Rand and John Searle
have responded with more or less elaborate arguments defending our
capacity to get things right about the world.

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Thursday
September 18, 2014
Commentary
There is no John Galt - and that's worse
by Michael E. Marotta
Sanctions: 17Sanctions: 17Sanctions: 17 Sanction this ArticleEditMark as your favorite article

What you tax you get less of; and what you subsidize you get more of.  The brightest people in the world are making video games; and no one is on the Moon.  It did not take a genius to figure this out: it is a universal law of human action.  There is a destroyer loose in the who is shutting off the motor of the world, slowing the engine of creation, tapping out the extra power of invention.  But it is not one person whose name is a question.  

 

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