Topic Vortex
5 Ways the Hunger Games Dystopia Happened in Real Life | Jen Maffessanti
It's no secret that young-adult dystopian fiction had a very real moment recently with franchises like Divergent and Maze Runner making it to the big screen. But the most wildly successful has to be the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.
Policies That Make Philanthropy Less Effective | Jordan Setayesh
Thanksgiving and Christmas are arguably two of the most philanthropic times of the year. As the holiday season approaches, the spirit of giving will begin to consume the minds of the public. However, unique to this year will be the degree to which politics might permeate the holiday season more than ever.
Title IX and the Law of Unintended Consequences | Larry Schweikart
A recent debate over obesity featured James Glassman, an American Enterprise Institute resident fellow, defending the fast-food industry and Shannon Brownlee, a New America Foundation senior fellow, complaining "not only is your local, state and federal government not doing anything about this disease-anything credible about it-but they are actually promoting this disease through taxes and other policies."
How Big Tech Smeared Brett Kavanaugh and Protected Jeffrey Epstein
While the New York Times' Robin Pogrebin's and Kate Kelly's The Education of Brett Kavanaugh turned out to be a giant dud, it did expose Silicon Valley's complicity in the false smears against the Supreme Court justice.
School Bans Designer Coats in Order to "Poverty Proof" Campus | Brittany Hunter
Winter is coming, and colder temperatures mean that our coats and scarves have been pulled from their summer resting places and put to good use once more. But if you're a parent in the United Kingdom, you might want to think twice before you send your kids off to school in their favorite winter coats.
My Campaign to Raise the Voting Age Got Me Shadowbanned on Twitter | J.K. Baltzersen
Are social justice warriors at Twitter afraid of my movement to raise the voting age? I debuted as a FEE writer on the first Sunday of March-expressing the contrarian position that the voting age should be raised. I am not alone in my desire to go in that direction.
Why It Must Be the People Who Preserve the Flame of Liberty | Barry Brownstein
Virtue begins when we want the same freedom for others that we want for ourselves. If we love liberty, we "have a conviction that each individual is created equal to all others and that he has the same unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
The Futility of Those Bans on Plastic Bags and Straws | Jarrett Stepman
Canada, following precedent set by the European Union, is poised to join a growing list of places where single-use plastic items have been banned. Though the government hasn't specified which items will actually be outlawed in 2021, according to The Guardian, "bottles, plastic bags, and straws" are being considered.
Watch Friedrich Hayek Educate a Young Jeff Greenfield on the Fundamental Problem with Social Justice | Jon Miltimore
Implicit in social justice doctrine is the idea that improper imbalances in wealth and privilege must be corrected. But how? Hayek knew very well. During his interview with Buckley, he explained to a young Jeff Greenfield that social justice demands treating people unequally.
The Campus Counter-Revolution against Liberty | Richard M. Ebeling
Much has been rightly said about recent attacks on conservative, libertarian, and other non-Leftist speakers on college and university campuses around the country. We should also appreciate that this is the renewed counter-revolution, which we have seen for a century, against the philosophical individualist and market-based foundations of the modern world.
The Soviet and Nazi Inception: A Married Ideology | Joshua Hofford
The economic practice of the Nazis and Soviets was very similar. Doomed shawls of Soviet Marxism can be replaced with cursed vests of National Socialism, but each hid the rotten mask of the utopian paradise-one created from the hammer-and-sickle and swastika.
Equal Pay Day? More Like Unequal Comparison Day | Gary M. Galles
As I drove into work this morning, I heard on the radio that it was 2019's " Equal Pay Day." The story echoed years past, decrying differences between median yearly incomes for men and women and reiterating assertions that the data demonstrates unjustifiable discrimination against women "doing the same work as men."
America Finally Admits Recycling Doesn't Work | Jon Miltimore
A couple of years ago, after sending my five-year-old daughter off to school, she came home reciting the same cheerful environmental mantra I was taught in elementary school. "Reduce, reuse, recycle," she beamed, proud to show off a bit of rote learning.
The Unseen Economic Benefits of Brexit | Madeline Grant
Creating a competitive, innovation-friendly atmosphere is a huge potential hidden "win" of Brexit-with correspondingly huge opportunity costs from failing to do so.
The Wisdom of Barry Goldwater | Lawrence W. Reed
Arizona native Barry Goldwater once visited a golf club on the East Coast that would not allow Jewish people on its links. When he was informed that he couldn't play the 18 holes he came for, he famously responded, "Well, my was Jewish but my was Episcopalian, so can I play holes?"
Social Justice: When Good Becomes Evil? | Devin Foley
Traditionally in the West, Justice was defined as, "To give to each his due." Western men were expected to judge the individual and his actions against what were then considered objective truths. For anyone watching the culture these days, especially on college campuses, it should be clear that that's no longer the accepted understanding of Justice.
7 Things I'd Do if I Wanted to Keep Poor People Poor | Brian Balfour
If I wanted to keep poor people poor, there are several government policies I would favor. Let's count them down. For starters, I would advocate for a robust and ever-expanding welfare state-programs like Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment insurance, etc.
Why Bolivia Is Not a Socialist Success Story | Brittany Hunter
Since Bolivia's economy has experienced a 3.8 percent growth rate over the last year, many socialists see this as airtight proof that socialism can work and that Venezuela is merely a result of mismanagement and fiscal irresponsibility on Maduro's behalf.
Sacramento lying in wait for worker freedom movement after Janus ruling
Public employee unions are rubbing a purple bruise, inflicted by the U.S. Supreme Court when it ruled in Janus vs. AFSCME that government workers don't have to pay unions to keep their jobs. But the unions and their partners in Sacramento aren't going to let a little Supreme Court decision get in the way of a cushy arrangement they've enjoyed for decades.
Can Americans Remember the Virtue of Independence (and the Corrosiveness of Dependence)? | Barry Brownstein
Many virtues help maintain freedom, beginning with keeping our word and honoring our contracts. Deceit corrodes liberty. Essential to freedom is respect for the rights and property of others-our rights are only as strong as our respect for the rights of others.
Union-Free Contracts and the Freedom of Association | Gary M. Galles
The just-announced Janus decision that mandated union fees for government employees were unconstitutional is a blockbuster decision increasing liberty in the labor market. However, it was not this term's only decision defending worker freedom. In an important case, the Supreme Court just held, 5-4, in Epic Systems v.
Why Do People Become Communists, and Why Do They Stick With It?
For as long as I can remember, I've puzzled about why people become communists. I have no doubt about why someone would stop being one. After all, we have a century of evidence of the murder, famine, and general destruction caused by the idea. Ignoring all this takes a special kind of willful blindness to reality.
3 Government "Solutions" That Harm Minority Communities | Jordan Setayesh
Many politicians often cite their motives as focused on protecting historically marginalized groups from exploitation and oppression. I don't think anyone objects to this goal. The question is not if we should attempt to maximize opportunities for minorities, but rather if government is a suitable mechanism for achieving those aims. It is no coincidence that minorities often struggle the most in domains of social and economic life where the government is most involved.
What Happens When an MBA Student Raised in Communist China Reads Hayek | Barry Brownstein
In the spring of 1999, I taught an MBA economics class to a cohort of 30 Chinese students. The class was split between students from Beijing and Shanghai. Students from Shanghai-having more experience with the beneficial impact of liberalizing markets-were much more willing to embrace the ideas of classical liberalism.
Environmentalists Are Sounding the Alarm: You're Flying Too Much | Bill Wirtz
In Europe, air travel has been a blissful example of how the free market can lower transport costs for consumers. But now, it is coming under fire from environmentalists. Whenever you book a flight and look at your receipt, you'll find that a large portion of what you paid happens to be taxes.
The Remarkable Fall in China's Suicide Rate | Chelsea Follett
As more Chinese have left farms in the countryside to work in factory cities, the suicide rate has plummeted. This may be shocking to many people in rich countries. That is because many people who enjoy post-industrial prosperity worry about "sweatshop" conditions and exploitation in factories.
No, CEOs Don't Make 350 Times More Than Their Employees | Mark J. Perry
Just like last year, the CEO-to-worker pay ratio reported by the AFL-CIO gets my annual "Biggest Blindly Accepted Statistical Fairy Tale of the Year Award." Well no, it's actually a tie with the gender wage gap myth and the incessantly repeated "77 cents on the dollar" statistical falsehood.
Karl Marx and Marxism at Two Hundred | Richard M. Ebeling
Looking over the political and economic landscape of what Karl Marx's ideas wrought, over especially the last one hundred years, one might think that his name and his legacy would be held in the same hatred, contempt, and disgust as Adolf Hitler, the fashioner of German National Socialism (Nazism).
A Startup Designed a Cheap Alternative to Braces. Orthodontists (Naturally) Want It Regulated. | David R. Henderson 65
Notice the price difference between this new technology for orthodontics and the old. You can see why orthodontists are arguing against it: some of them would lose their jobs and many of them would lose income from this new Schumpeterian competition.
How Truck Driver Regulations Can Spread Foodborne Illness | Ross Marchand
Transportation of produce opens up the possibility of contamination and rotting. Some problems are inevitable, the result of one of the largest, most efficient food delivery networks in the world. But, as has occurred too many times, misguided federal policies have unintended consequences that lead to increased suffering and complications.
That Silly Obamacare Rule that Forces Restaurants to Change Their Menus Is about to Go into Effect | Michelle Minton
Within days, chain restaurants and grocery stores nationwide will have to comply with a high-cost, low-value Obamacare menu-labeling mandate. Failure to comply with the law could land shop owners in prison for a year with a fine of up to $100,000 and a year in prison.
Americans Are "Voting with their Feet" against High-Tax States Like California | Daniel J. Mitchell
California is a lot like France. They're both wonderful places to visit. And they're both great places to live if you already have a lot of money. But neither jurisdiction is very friendly to people who want to get rich. And, thanks to tax competition, that's having a meaningful impact on migration patterns.
18 Spectacularly Wrong Predictions Made Around the Time of the First Earth Day In 1970. Expect More This Year. | Mark J. Perry
Around the time of the first Earth Day in 1970, and in the years following, there was a "torrent of apocalyptic predictions" and many of those predictions were featured in his Reason article.