It’s important, when listening to the official shapers of opinion in the media, to ask ourselves what they really mean by the words they use. As Orwell pointed out in “Politics and the English Language,” those in power use language to obscure meaning more often than to convey it. A good example is the recurrence…

C4SS has teamed up with the Distro of the Libertarian Left. The Distro produces and distribute zines and booklets on anarchism, market anarchist theory, counter-economics, and other movements for liberation. For every copy of Gary Chartier‘s “The Distinctiveness of Left-Libertarianism” that you purchase through the Distro, C4SS will receive a percentage. Support C4SS with Gary Chartier‘s “The Distinctiveness of Left-Libertarianism“. $1.00 for the first…

This essay, originally pub­lish­ed by Red Lion Press in 2001, was one of Carson’s first ground-breaking contributions to the revival of Mutualist ideas within today’s anarchist and libertarian milieus. It has been re-issued in a beautiful new printing by ALL Distro.

Last week Michael Lind asked a silly question (“The question libertarians just can’t answer”): if libertarianism is so great, why hasn’t any country tried it? The question is silly because the libertarian answer is obvious: Libertarianism is great for ordinary people, but not for the power elites that control countries and determine what policies they…

From the Markets Not Capitalism audiobook read by C4SS fellow Stephanie Murphy.

O sistema de medicina dos Estados Unidos é corrupto, ineficaz e desnecessariamente caro. Esses resultados decorrem da violência do estado em favor da elite politicamente bem relacionada (especificamente seguradoras privadas, médicos, empresas farmacêuticas e de equipamento médico). Escassez artificial, superfaturamento, má alocação de financiamento de pesquisa e supressão de terapias alternativas (não patenteáveis) podem ser…

In the late 19th century, the decentralizing potential of the Second Industrial Revolution — the introduction of electrical power into industry — was a common theme in social analysis. The idea was that electrical power was destroying the technical rationale for large factories. The main reason for the Dark Satanic Mills of the First Industrial…

There are a growing number of complex wicked problems facing natural ecosystems and human civilization. In recent years we have seen that social movements can advance and uphold public welfare, seek justice and progress society. Throughout history, people’s movements have challenged institutions and power structures. Today these movements are beginning to address our most urgent…

Ich setze als bekannt voraus, dass kein Politiker mehr als Hohn und Spott verdient, dass sie samt und sonders ein System der Macht und Privilegien repräsentieren, das auf legalisierten Raub in einem gigantischen Maße hinausläuft. Nun, nachdem das gesagt wurde, mögen Republikaner – für ihre verblüffende Fähigkeit, sich von der Realität loszulösen – den Preis für…

C4SS Senior Fellow and Karl Hess Scholar in Social Theory Kevin Carson interviewed on the Decline to State podcast. Kevin Carson, a well-known and well-respected mutualist talks to us about mutualism, his views on a free society, and more. We get to hear his views on economics, including his ideas on how to fuse the Labor Theory of…

Muitos economistas acham que a próxima bolha a estourar em nossa atual crise será a dos empréstimos a estudantes. A dívida de empréstimos a estudantes encontra-se em alta histórica, e as taxas de empréstimos federais estão prestes a dobrar, de 3,4% para 6,8% – a despeito de pequeno esforço para fazer com que os juros dos empréstimos a estudantes acompanhem…

Every once in a while I’m inspired to write a column by looking through my feeds and stumbling across two items that dovetail together so well the column almost writes itself. This is one of those times. There are several hard realities that most liberals — as opposed to those of us on the genuine…

Many economists think that the next bubble to burst in our current crisis will be student loans. Student loan debt is at a historic high, and federal loan rates are about to double, from 3.4% to 6.8% – despite a small effort to have student loan interest rates mimic the rates government grants big banks. This…

The following article is translated into Portuguese from the English original, written by Kevin Carson. De todos os comentários pretensamente libertários que tentam colocar a tragédia das confecções de peças de vestuário de Bangladesh em “perspectiva,” o de Benjamin Powell é provavelmente o pior (“Sweatshops Em Bangladesh Melhoram A Vida De Seus Trabalhadores, E Estimulam Crescimento,” Forbes, 2…

Of all the self-styled libertarian commentaries attempting to put the Bangladesh garment factory tragedy in “perspective,” Benjamin Powell’s is probably the worst (“Sweatshops In Bangladesh Improve The Lives Of Their Workers, And Boost Growth,” Forbes, May 2). In Bangladesh, Powell writes, “some 4,500 garment factories employ approximately 4 million workers. In the grand scheme of…

The American medical system is corrupt, ineffective and unnecessarily costly. These outcomes are due to state violence on behalf of the politically connected elite (namely private insurers, physicians, pharmaceutical and medical device companies). Artificial scarcity, price-gouging, misallocation of research funding and the suppression of alternative (non-patentable) therapies can be ameliorated

The following article is translated into Deutsch from the English original, written by Kevin Carson. Es gibt einen brillanten Satz dafür, wie Kapitalismus in der realen Welt funktioniert (ich bin mir nicht sicher wer zuerst drauf kam, aber ich verbinde ihn mit Noam Chomsky): die Sozialisation von Risiko und Kosten, und die Privatisierung von Profit. In…

C4SS has teamed up with the Distro of the Libertarian Left. The Distro produces and distribute zines and booklets on anarchism, market anarchist theory, counter-economics, and other movements for liberation. For every copy of ALL Distro’s “Laissez-Faire Socialism” that you purchase through the Distro, C4SS will receive a percentage. Support C4SS with ALL Distro’s “Laissez-Faire Socialism”. $1.00 for the first copy. $0.60 for…

In a new paper in the Cato Institute’s Policy Analysis, K. William Watson and Sallie James contend that American companies have increasingly used domestic “regulation as a way to disguise protectionist policy,” a growing problem that advantages U.S. companies at the expense of consumers. The authors counsel a skepticism toward “regulatory proposals backed by the…

Carson: A imposição de linhas imaginárias traçadas num mapa resulta em condição “illegal” para muitos seres humanos que, a despeito de ser puramente imaginária em sua base moral, é muitíssimo real em seus efeitos.