In the latest news story about collusive government-industry pipeline deals, Alaska Governor Sean Parnell announced a “partnership” between the Alaskan government, TransCanada, Exxon Mobil, BP and ConocoPhillips to build a pipeline “attractive to North Slope oil and gas companies.” Such pipeline projects, all involving massive government subsidies including the use of eminent domain to condemn…

The modern libertarian case against so-called intellectual property (IP) has been building steadily since the late 1980s, when I first encountered it. Since then, an impressive volume of work has been produced from many perspectives: economics, political economy, sociology, moral and political philosophy, history, and no doubt more. It is indeed a case to be…

Foundation The Industrial Revolution is typically regarded as a story of capitalism, free enterprise, and progress in technology and living standards. This paper attempts to disentangle the threads of capitalism, free enterprise, and progress, in the context of the Industrial Revolution, with a focus on Britain and the United States. It aims to bring some historical perspectives into…

Los aficionados de la tecnología y defensores de la privacidad observaron atentamente el ataque que Microsoft lanzó a finales de 2013 contra el sistema operativo Chrome de Google. Por un lado, es inusual que una empresa gaste los dólares de su presupuesto publicitario atacando a sus competidores en lugar de promover sus propios productos. Por…

Bill de Blasio’s mayoralty of New York City is shaping up as a textbook example of Roderick T. Long’s account of how electoral politics works in practice: “… via a façade of opposition between a purportedly progressive statocracy and a purportedly pro-market plutocracy. The con operates by co-opting potential opponents of the establishment; those who…

Tech aficionados and privacy advocates took notice in late 2013 when Microsoft rolled out an attack on Google’s Chrome OS computers. For one thing, it’s unusual for any company to spend its advertising dollars attacking its competitors rather than promoting its own products. For another, Microsoft’s position atop the computer operating systems market is such that…

Singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco recently cancelled her “Righteous Retreat in the Big Easy,” a song-writing retreat hosted at the Nottoway Plantation and Resort, a former slave plantation in Louisiana. The venue choice provoked well-deserved outrage, prompting DiFranco to cancel. DiFranco issued what Callie Beusman at Jezebel called “a remarkably unapologetic ‘apology,’” defending her actions more than apologizing…

Aqueles que veem o poder governamental e o poder corporativo como conflitantes e aqueles que veem os dois como simbióticos, tem cada um, um ponto. A aliança entre o governo e a elite corporativa é parecida com a parceria entre a igreja e o estado na Idade Média: cada um quer ser o parceiro dominante,…

C4SS Senior Fellow Gary Chartier talks to right libertarian John Stossel about Markets Not Capitalism and why advocates of freed markets should oppose capitalism. http://youtu.be/INfSOUgLHG8

Recently Mike Konczal (“‘Corporatism’ is the Latest Hysterical Right-Wing Accusation,” The New Republic, December 15) attacked “corporatism” as a pernicious right-wing meme, ostensibly aimed at exposing Obama’s policies for “enriching the well-off” but in reality a “reactionary” agenda freeing big business from accountability. I think he underestimates the extent to which the “corporatism” and “crony…

Nel 2011 partecipai ad una discussione pubblica presso King’s Books a Tacoma, nello stato di Washington. Si parlava dell’effetto che hanno le guerre sui soldati e le loro famiglie. Mi ero preparato a rispondere parlando dell’impatto che le guerre continue hanno sulle famiglie che incontravo nella sala parto dove lavoro. Durante questa discussione, però, fui…

AUTHOR’S NOTE: TechCrunch has reported that the Iron Maiden story that this article was centered around was misreported, if not an outright fabrication. We have corrected the factual inaccuracies and regret the error. For years, advocates of strict enforcement of intellectual property law on the Internet and elsewhere have said that the single largest detriment…

“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the gentleman, taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want…

In einer Ansprache, die die Luftangriffe auf Libyen durch die USA und ihrer Verbündeten zum Thema hat, sagte Präsident Obama, dass das Scheitern zu handeln „ein Verrat an uns selbst wäre“, dass ein Massaker in dem Land „das Gewissen der Welt beflecken“ würde. Jedes mal wenn die Elite der Außenpolitik des Imperiums anfängt davon zu…

Pope Francis wrote in his recent apostolic exhortation, “Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality.” He’s right — but not in the way he intends. Before…

In passato, ho dibattuto contro l’autorità sia in termini di principi che di conseguenze. Istituzioni come lo stato non hanno autorità legittima su di te perché nessuno possiede nessun altro, e tu non puoi delegare ad un’istituzione un’autorità che non hai, affinché la eserciti in tuo nome. A livello pratico, l’autorità conduce a irrazionalità e…

The main plotline of the Star Wars prequel trilogy concerns an apparent conflict between the central government (the Senate) on the one hand and a coalition of mercantile interests (the Trade Federation, the Commerce Guild, etc.) on the other. As events unfold, however, it quickly becomes obvious to the audience (though much less quickly to the protagonists)…

I am now prepared to state without reservation that the ongoing NSA/surveillance story ranks among the more momentous and nauseating charades perpetrated on a frighteningly gullible public. Any remaining doubt I had on this question — and, in truth, no substantial doubt remained in my own mind — has been obliterated by this story concerning the remarks…

I suppose we will forever be subjected to incomplete accounts of the life of Nelson Mandela and the evil he struggled against. Both the Right and the Left (as conventionally defined in America) are too busy pushing agendas to provide the full story. On the establishment Right (with some honorable exceptions) apartheid was deemed unimportant…

Stephen Moss discusses Jeremy Scahil’s, Dirty Wars. Karam Filfian reviews Dirty Wars. Anthony Papa asks for a pardon of both drug war prisoners and the turkey. Deepak Tripathi discusses Obama’s Middle Eastern policy. David Macray discusses the plight of ex-convicts. Ahmad Barqawi discusses Bandar’s reign of terror. David Rosen discusses the private security threat to…