Oleh: Jesse Baldwin. Teks aslinya berjudul “The Black Market Correction.” Diterjemahkan oleh Sachadru. Sangat menarik melihat kaum Kiri progresif bersatu melawan pelarangan narkoba. Mereka tidak bersama kita dalam semangat, juga seharusnya tidak, tetapi mereka telah meletakkan dasar untuk kritiknya, dan dengan cara yang dijahit dengan benang yang sama dari kesamaan kita yang lewat. Banyak yang…

De: Dawie Coetzee. Título original: Manufacturing Scarcity, del 30 de enero 2013. Traducido por: Juan Pirela Parra. Si bien estamos de acuerdo en que el sistema prevalente de capitalismo de Estado depende del mantenimiento de una escasez artificial, parece haber poca claridad en lo que respecta al como esta se mantiene. Específicamente, hay dudas sobre…

There are many different arguments against the Minimum Wage. One less prominent criticism of the idea is the fact that it restricts entrepreneurship: especially from those with low incomes. It is worth conceptually exploring how this happens. To begin with, when a Minimum Wage is instituted, there are layoffs.

Speaking at the American Heart Association on April 19th, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled anti-smoking policies going “up against a multi-billion-dollar industry.” This might seem an adversarial showdown between public advocacy and entrenched power straight out of a Hollywood movie — say, “Erin Brockovich” or “Spotlight.”

In invoking the need for stringent economic regulations, their proponents regularly bring up the case that without these regulations the dumb consumer would fall prey to food poisoning, faulty production and all other sorts of calamities and disasters. In effect, they are saying that the consumer is far too stupid to have the capacity to…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Dawie Coetzee‘s “Dieselgate: Why VW Will Come Out Smelling Like Roses” read and edited by Tony Dreher. The last thing VW wants is their customers getting their hands dirty. A clue into VW’s real aspirations is given by the 1999 Audi A2 with its “service panel” in lieu of a conventional…

Details have been emerging this week of a clever trick pulled by Volkswagen in North America. The German-based automaker is alleged to have been using software to cheat EPA emissions tests for millions of its turbocharged direct injection (TDI) diesel engine Volkswagen and Audi cars dating back to 2009. New vehicles pretty much the world over are…

A common liberal or “progressive” criticism of so-called “sharing economy” entities like Uber, Lyft and Airbnb (usually appearing in venues like Salon or Alternet) is that they’re “unregulated.”   This implicitly assumes, of course, that regulations like the taxi medallion system exist for some idealistic purpose of serving the “public welfare” and not simply guaranteeing…

On July 31st, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) introduced the Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the Importation of Large Animal Trophies Act (CECIL), crudely named after the slain lion whose death, at the hands of a Dallas dentist, sparked great outcry. The Act seeks to place further restrictions on the import and export of endangered wildlife or the…

C4SS Feed 44 presents James C. Wilson‘s “Don’t Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol — Keep Government Out!” read by Joey Clark and edited by Nick Ford. “Supporters of marijuana prohibition are not getting any younger. More than 213 million Americans live in jurisdictions with some form of legal marijuana use. Growing numbers recognize marijuana as a means of…

Uri Avnery discusses what the Israeli left should do. D. Brady Nelson discusses government regulation as a hidden tax. Sheldon Richman discusses rethinking the U.S.-Israeli relationship. Justin Raimondo discusses Bibi as George Wallace. Kevin Carson discusses Thomas Piketty’s book on capital. Robert VerBruggen discusses a book on gun control in Nazi Germany. Bruce Fein discusses…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Roderick Long‘s “Those Who Control the Past Control the Future” read by Jeff Riggenbach and edited by Nick Ford. To begin with, there never was anything remotely like a period of laissez-faire in American history (at least not if “laissez-faire” means “let the market operate freely” as opposed to “let the rich and powerful…

Il venti febbraio, i parlamentari americani Jared Polis (democratico, Colorado) e Earl Blumenauer (democratico, Oregon) hanno presentato due nuove proposte di legge che mirano alla legalizzazione della marijuana a livello federale. La pratica di arrestare, multare, opprimere e stigmatizzare chi usa la marijuana è un fatto tragico che ha danneggiato l’esistenza di tanti. La fine…

On February 20, US Representatives Jared Polis (D-CO) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced two new bills for federal marijuana legalization. The US government’s practice of imprisoning, fining, harassing and stigmatizing marijuana users is tragic and has damaged many lives. Ending prohibition is a welcome change, but these bills have severe problems. If passed, they would turn marijuana…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Roderick Long‘s “Poison as Food, Poison as Antidote” read and edited by Nick Ford. But it is an all-too-common mistake – and this tendency to underestimate the chasm between free markets and corporatism is enormously beneficial to the state, enabling a slick bait-and-switch. When free markets and government grants of privilege to…

Recent studies estimate that the federal regulatory burden has impaired the United States economy to the tune of almost $40 trillion, “act[ing] as a hidden tax on individuals.” Precluding new competitors and entrepreneurship, new regulations often favor established firms at the expense of both consumers and economic growth generally. What’s more, left-wing revisionists such as Gabriel…

In Seattle, St. Louis and elsewhere, “ridesharing” services such as Uber and Lyft are causing a kerfuffle. These services, which allow users to submit orders via a smartphone app that are then filled by individuals driving their own cars, run afoul of long-standing regulations requiring the special licensing of taxis by municipal authorities. These licenses,…

A lot of recent libertarian commentary has treated Uber and Lyft as the greatest thing since Bitcoin and 3D-printed guns. On the other hand, a lot of critics — including not only liberals but anarchists who should know better — have demonized it as a corporate gentrification tool straight out of the fever dreams of…

Al Carroll recently penned a piece titled The Moral and Practical Failures of Libertarianism and Small Government Conservatism. This will be a point by point refutation. Let’s begin. Al writes: In economics, both orthodox Communism and Libertarianism are equally wrong, callous, and dangerous examples of ideological blindness, a set of principles taken to an extreme…

Da decenni i regolamenti sui taxi sono un esempio da manuale di come le norme governative creino artificialmente barriere, rendite e lavoro salariato. Oltre ad una serie di normative di stampo proibitivo che arrivano a definire anche il colore dei calzini di un tassista, il sistema dei “medaglioni” (come sono chiamate le licenze dei taxi…