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• From 1944 to Nineteen Eighty-Four
  fee.org > resources > from-1944-to-nineteen-eighty-four
  Sheldon Richman | Friday, September 4, 2009
  I’m inclined to think of George Orwell and F. A. Hayek at the same time. Both showed great courage in writing the truth, undaunted by the consequences awaiting them. Both valued freedom, though they understood it differently.
• Obama Pledges Pricey
  fee.org > resources > obama-pledges-pricey
  FEE.org Web Bot | Thursday, November 27, 2008
  “President-elect Barack Obama promised on Monday to jolt the faltering U.S. economy with a costly stimulus package next year and introduced the team that will help him navigate the global financial crisis.” (Reuters, Tuesday)
  
  “Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.” –J.M. Keynes
  
  FEE Timely Classic
  “An Unstimulating Idea” by Sheldon Richman
• Auto-Destruct
  fee.org > resources > auto-destruct
  Sheldon Richman | Sunday, November 23, 2008
  The Big Three automakers got a cold reception in Congress this week when they asked for a bailout loan of $25 billion. But I wouldn’t count them out just yet. After appropriating over $700 billion to bail out the financial industry — with nothing to show for it but an ominous precedent and a scary accretion of power in the U.S. Treasury — members of Congress may be a little reluctant to hand out more money to demonstrably failing — even de facto bankrupt — companies. Yet I have a hunch Congress will get over its reluctance, maybe as early as next month. Things just seem to work that way in Washington. Remember the first bailout bill? More . . .

  —A NEW article by Sheldon Richman

• The Goal Is Freedom: Auto-Destruct
  fee.org > resources > the-goal-is-freedom-auto-destruct
  Sheldon Richman |
  The Big Three automakers got a cold reception in Congress this week when they asked for a bailout loan of $25 billion. But I wouldn’t count them out just yet. After appropriating over $700 billion to bail out the financial industry — with nothing to show for it but an ominous precedent and a scary accretion of power in the U.S. Treasury — members of Congress may be a little reluctant to hand out more money to demonstrably failing — even de facto bankrupt — companies. Yet I have a hunch Congress will get over its reluctance, maybe as early as next month. Things just seem to work that way in Washington. Remember the first bailout bill? More . . .

  —A NEW article by Sheldon Richman

• Save Us from Government Spending
  fee.org > resources > save-us-from-government-spending
  Sheldon Richman | Friday, November 14, 2008
  If you're a glutton for torment as I am, you watch cable-TV news shows most nights. These days the shows are feeding viewers a steady diet of 100-proof Keynesianism as the cure for our economic woes. Leading in this department is Chris Matthews of MSNBC's “Hardball.” (I call it “Nerf Ball.” Matthews's idea of a hardball question for a politician is, “Are you running for president?”) Matthews declared last week, “We're all Keynesians now,” and each night he pontificates on why the government must start to spend massive amounts of money, even though it doesn't have massive amounts of money. We'll worry about the consequences later. Why must it spend? Because we aren't doing it and that's putting the economy in recession. Someone has to spend, Matthews says, and the government is spender of last resort. More . . .
  
  

  A NEW article by Sheldon Richman

• Prospects Dim for Auto Bailout, Stimulus Bill
  fee.org > resources > prospects-dim-for-auto-bailout-stimulus-bill
  FEE.org Web Bot |
  The prospects of a government rescue for the foundering American automakers dwindled Thursday as Democratic Congressional leaders conceded that they would face potentially insurmountable Republican opposition during a lame-duck session next week. At the same time, hope among many Democrats on Capitol Hill for an aggressive economic stimulus measure all but evaporated. (New York Times, Friday)
  
  The good news just keeps coming.
  
  FEE Timely Classic
  The Tide in the Affairs of Men by Milton Friedman and Rose D. Friedman
• Tax Change for Banks Went Unnoticed
  fee.org > resources > tax-change-for-banks-went-unnoticed
  FEE.org Web Bot | Monday, November 10, 2008
  The financial world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the Bush administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of the banking industry. In the midst of this late-September drama, the Treasury Department issued a five-sentence notice that attracted almost no public attention. But corporate tax lawyers quickly realized the enormous implications of the document: Administration officials had just given American banks a windfall of as much as $140 billion. (Washington Post, Monday)
  
  The injustice of any act of Congress increases with its complexity.
  
  FEE Timely Classic
  Government by Obfuscation by Sheldon Richman
• Will Washington Be Less Friendly to Big Business?
  fee.org > resources > will-washington-be-less-friendly-to-big-business
  FEE.org Web Bot | Thursday, November 6, 2008
  After years of playing offense, big business is getting ready for the less familiar role of playing defense following President-elect Barack Obama's victory and legislative gains by other Democrats. (McClatchy, Thursday)
  
  Since when has big business wanted free markets?
  
  FEE Timely Classic
  Atlas Shrugged and the Corporate State by Sheldon Richman
• Homeland Security to Check Airline Passengers, Require More Info
  fee.org > resources > homeland-security-to-check-airline-passengers-require-more-info
  FEE.org Web Bot | Thursday, October 23, 2008
  The Department of Homeland Security will take over responsibility for checking airline passenger names against government watch lists beginning in January, and will require travelers for the first time to provide their full name, birth date and gender as a condition for boarding commercial flights, U.S. officials said Wednesday. Security officials say the additional personal information — which will be given to airlines to forward to the federal agency in charge — will dramatically cut down on cases of mistaken identity, in which people with names similar to those on watch lists are wrongly barred or delayed from flights. (Washington Post, Thursday)
  
  Bureaucracy knows best. It said so.
  
  FEE Timely Classic
  Putting Security Back on Track by Becky Akers
• Conservative Appellate Judges Hit High Court's Gun Ruling
  fee.org > resources > conservative-appellate-judges-hit-high-courtaposs-gun-ruling
  FEE.org Web Bot | Tuesday, October 21, 2008
  Four months after the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess guns, its decision is under assault — from the right. Two prominent federal appeals court judges say that Justice Antonin Scaliarsquo;s majority opinion in the case, District of Columbia v. Heller, is illegitimate, activist, poorly reasoned and fueled by politics rather than principle. (New York Times, Tuesday)
  
  Criticism from an unexpected quarter.
  
  FEE Timely Classic
  Getting Rights Wrong by Sheldon Richman