If you do nothing else this week, read George Orwell’s Politics and the English Language. It will change how you read about political issues – and as Orwell notes, “all issues are political issues.” Vague and sloppy language, Orwell points out, … [Read more]
Resisting Free Speech
The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are … [Read more]
CEO Pay vs Worker Pay
Is there a causal connection between the compensation paid to Chief Executive Officers and the wages paid to workers? At first glance, the numbers seem to suggest a correlation. Between 1978 and 2013, the inflation-adjusted compensation paid to … [Read more]
A Few Richard Nixons needed from the Democratic Party
Where are the Richard Nixons of the Democratic Party? Richard Nixon was known as a staunch anti-communist. It was Vice President Nixon who, in 1959, engaged in a famous "kitchen debate" with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev as the two were … [Read more]
Free Trade: Good for Rich and Poor
The last 25 years have seen the most rapid improvement in the human condition in history. In 1990, 35% of the world’s population, a total of 1.85 billion people, lived in extreme poverty (defined as living on $1 per day or less). By 2013, only … [Read more]
Why Are There Poor Americans?
Why are there poor people in a rich country like the United States? People generally answer that question in one of two ways. Some would say that people are poor in the United States primarily because of “systemic” causes. The economic system … [Read more]