Commentary
Scary Story: The State vs. Anarchists
Tom Knapp on the developing Anarchist Scare.
The Invariable State
“Syrian security forces,” reports BBC News, “have cracked down on anti-government protests across the country, killing 100 people in the city of Hama alone.” These most recent reports come after months of protests, inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings in other countries, that led to the removal of leaders long in power. Throughout the violence,…
The Terminally Ill Economy
Amidst the continuing debate over the debt ceiling, with the deadline looming, CNNMoney reports the “worst week of 2011” for stocks, citing stagnant growth numbers for the second quarter. Analysts at one bank, the Zurich, Switzerland-based Credit Suisse, have even predicted that, if the federal government defaults on its payments, U.S. stock prices “could tumble…
Some Mirror-Imaging from Jeffrey Sachs
The people had their revolution stolen out from under them by Sachs and his ilk.
Debt Ceiling Debate: A Night at the Theater
Tom Knapp on Washington’s “debt ceiling” melodrama.
Why We Fight
Late last year, I called the first shots in Cyber World War One. I got the timing completely wrong. In fact, I was off by about 27 years. The real first shot in that war — heard ’round the world and widely lauded, but its implications not really understood — was fired in 1984 by…
Incompetence at Best
Darian Worden on the ATF and Drug War violence.
Obama: The Best “Enemy” Money Can Buy
Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn joins the long list of CEOs calling Barack Obama “anti-business,” denouncing him as “the greatest wet blanket to business, progress and job creation in my lifetime.” Obama’s rhetoric is the kind of thing we hear only from “pure socialists.” In February 3M CEO George Buckley called Obama’s instincts “Robin…
The Labor Question in Context
“Employer groups,” The Washington Post reports, “turned out in force Monday to challenge rules proposed by the National Labor Relations Board that would streamline the process for holding union elections and make it easier for workers to organize.” The article observes that private sector union membership has fallen nearly 30 percent over the past 60…
More Government Does Not Mean “Independence”
The Center for American Progress, a progressive, DC-based think tank, celebrated July 21 as “Consumers’ Independence Day.” The date marks the official birthday of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a new federal government agency developed to “protect and educate buyers of financial products.” CAP is certainly right that consumers, that vague but vulnerable group,…
“Property Rights” Aren’t Just for the Rich
Through the mid-fifteenth century, access to land in the typical English village was regulated on the so-called “open-field” model. Village lands were the common property of peasant communes, and occupancy right to arable land was periodically redivided between families, with each family receiving a number of strips in each field proportionate to its size. Access rights…
The Policeman is Not Your Friend
Kevin Carson on dealing with the pigs.
Their System is Breaking
David S. D’Amato on the global debt crisis of statism.
In a Free Market, Information Wants to be Free
Kevin Carson: “In order for capitalism to exist — i.e., for a rentier class to live off the income from property — the state must intervene in the market to prevent market competition from spontaneously creating socialism.”
High-Tech Swadeshi
Kevin Carson on the futility of political action in comparison to productive direct action.
Chaos in the Streets of Mumbai
David S. D’Amato on unrest in India.
Myth of the “Power Vacuum”
David S. D’Amato points to Afghanistan and explains that positions of arbitrary political power ought to be abolished rather than filled.
South Sudan and the Sovereignty of the Individual
Darian Worden: Political independence is only as valuable as the individual liberty it promotes.
Message to Syria: All Rule is Foreign Rule
David S. D’Amato: “Syrians must be wary of political figureheads who equate independence from Western, corporatism and empire with genuine liberty in their homeland.”
Egyptians Should Beware Political Unity
David S. D’Amato checks in on the results, so far, of the Arab Spring.
Anarchy and Democracy
Fighting Fascism
Markets Not Capitalism
The Anatomy of Escape
Organization Theory