As cities across the country face growing deficits, instead of their current strategy of raising taxes and cutting services, they might like to take a look at a few case study examples of how those before them solved their challenges.
As an example, ten years ago we hosted the then-mayors of Indianapolis, Stephen Goldsmith, and [...]

A few weeks ago a 16 year old high school girl was gang-raped for a period of over two hours in a poorly-lit courtyard on the campus of her high school during the homecoming dance. While there have been outpourings of horror, sympathy for the victim, funds raised for her future, etc., I’ve seen absolutely [...]

As an addendum to an earlier post citing the Obamas’ and various politicos’ (including Treasury Secretary Geithner and Tom Daschle) problems either understanding or adhering to the nation’s tax law, former Socialist Congressman Ron Dellums has apparently also decided that taxes are for the “little people.” He and his wife Cynthia owe at least $239,000 [...]

Last week, I spoke to a class at Idlewild Presbyterian Church on the economics of drug prohibition. My notes are below.  Cross-posted at Division of Labour.

When I was younger, we thought the line “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you,” the height of hilarity, invariably greeted with derisive hoots of laughter. Today it seems that any government official’s exhortation to “Trust me” is greeted as holy gospel, with nary more to be said. A case in point [...]

A new political thriller from PBS, “Endgame,” provides the little-known, true back story of apartheid’s end in South Africa, with credit given to a for-profit mining company. Foreseeing that deteriorating conditions in South Africa would likely result in a total loss of their assets, Consolidated Goldfields initiated secret discussions between representatives of the [...]

President Obama has declared that “the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom.” Yet the State of Hawaii, where Obama himself graduated from a top private high school, has just signed a budget-cutting contract with its teachers’ union paring 17 Fridays from the remainder of school year, but leaving teachers [...]

If you got to the Blog page by passing through the Independent Institute’s home page, I hope you noticed the announcement of the publication of Housing America: Building Out of a Crisis, which I co-edited with Benjamin Powell.  Ben and I have been working on this project for years, so it is nice to see [...]

My old friend John Chapman channels Bastiat in a new op-ed:
A lesson from the parable is that government spending cannot create wealth; it can at best redistribute it, often accompanied by waste. The clunkers program certainly helps auto manufacturers, sellers and participating buyers, today; this is what’s seen. But it hurts used-car buyers, who now [...]

Attorney Harvey Silverglate is unfortunately not a reliable source to defend the natural rights of the citizenry from the abuse of government agents. Like most “liberal” attorneys, Silverglate’s views are a mixed bag, even when his intent may be to defend habeas corpus. Incredibly enough, given his critique of the Cambridge, Mass., police in arresting [...]