Free Republic

We've been a fed a myth about heroic individuals -- and that allows the 1 percent to prosper at everyone's expense. Americans have been deceived by the notion that individual desires preempt the needs of society; by the Ayn-Rand/Reagan/Thatcher aversion to government regulation; by the distorted image of 'freedom' as winner-take-all capitalism; by the assurance that the benefits of greed will spread downwards to everyone. Our current capitalist-driven inequalities will only be rectified when people realize that a strong community makes successful individuals, not the other way around. These are a few of the ways we would benefit with a...

It's no wonder cities like New York have been so hostile to Uber. As economist Mark Perry details in a post on his Carpe Diem site, the introduction of Uber and other app-based ride-sharing services has led to a collapse in the price of New York City's taxi medallions.

It's no wonder cities like New York have been so hostile to Uber. As economist Mark Perry details in a post on his Carpe Diem site, the introduction of Uber and other app-based ride-sharing services has led to a collapse in the price of New York City's taxi medallions. For those who don't know, a cabbie needs one of these limited-edition medallions to operate in the city. As a result, the price for a New York taxicab medallion has been astronomical — reaching more than $1 million in 2013. There's even a company, Medallion Financial, that handles loans needed to...

You know our country is in serious financial trouble when lawmakers are considering selling a portion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in order to partially replenish the U.S. highway trust fund. Yet, the apparent financial distress doesn't stop the Department of Transportation from continuing to hand out millions of federal matching funds to entice local governments to either expand or build light rails under its "New Starts" program. Several U.S. cities jumped on the fed induced light rail frenzy. The latest example is Lone Tree, Colorado, a picturesque small town with a population of 13,267. The Lone Tree city...

Governor Charles Baker acted prudently in pulling the plug on a scheme to relocate the state Department of Transportation from its headquarters in bustling Park Plaza to a long-vacant Roxbury lot known as Parcel 3. The half-baked plan, inherited from former Governor Deval Patrick, may have been well-intended; its goal was to revitalize a struggling neighborhood with a $350 million construction project and the influx of state employees. But the new administration concluded that the expense and upheaval couldn't be justified, especially in light of a $1.8 billion budget shortfall. Halting an unrealistic top-down proposal was a no-brainer. The real...

The revenge of the status quo is brutish. "If you attack the establishment long enough and hard enough, they will make you a member of it," humorist Art Buchwald once observed. Those words never seemed truer than at the "Uber Turns Five" celebration at its San Francisco digs Wednesday. In the disruption economy, five years can carry a ride-service giant from disruptor to establishment. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick certainly has matured. Last year, the startup went on a "charm offensive" in an attempt to quell stories about Uber's testosterone culture. That didn't go swimmingly. A male exec told a New...

For years, my scientist brother Tom was the nonpolitical Stossel. I defended free markets on TV, and he studied blood at Harvard and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Mom asked me when I'd get a "real job" like his. Then the crusade against capitalism reached his world. Medical "journalists" demanded that corporations distance themselves from medical research. They'll bias the results, "put profits before people" and sell dangerous goods. Tom didn't notice this "conflict of interest crusade" until he joined the scientific advisory board of a biotech company and learned how difficult it is to bring medical innovation to market. Now...

The whole of economics can be reduced to a single lesson, and that lesson can be reduced to a single sentence. The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.” — Henry Hazlitt, “Economics in One Lesson” One of the greatest fallacies of recent generations is the argument that free market capitalism has failed and that said failure is responsible for America’s moribund economy, the ongoing destruction of the middle...

Two days ago I ordered online a used copy of Milton & Rose Friedman's classic "Free to Choose," hoping a liberal loved one would be willing to read it. That doesn't look like it's going to happen, so now I'm tempted to send the book to Barney Frank—since it's apparent that, like many liberals, he doesn't understand the most basic notions of how free markets work. On Steve Kornacki's MSNBC show today, Frank described business creators as being "given privileges." Barney then added this mind-boggler: "there's only a limited amount of space, there's only a limited amount of businesses. Your...

Conservatives often find themselves at odds with the libertarian crowd. However, is that anger really warranted? As President Reagan once said, “If you analyze it, I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism.” True conservatives and libertarians, let’s not pretend there aren’t fakers on both side, all agree on the fundamentals: limited government, personal responsibility, and economic freedom. Neither group wants the government interfering in our daily lives and telling us what we can and cannot do. Now there may be slight disagreements on how that plays out in the policy arena, but we should not allow...

If you’re like most Americans, you’re enjoying the fact that it costs a lot less to fill up your car’s gas tank these days. If you’re a fan of big government, you may feel a bit ambivalent, though. Why? Because one of the biggest drivers behind the drop in gas prices is the rise in directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) here at home. While the government is busy micromanaging the energy industry — trying to saddle it with more regulations while showering favors on so-called “green” companies — the free market is showing how to actually get things done....

Mitt Romney’s opening pitch for a third shot at the White House left many Republicans scratching their heads, in part because his plans to fight poverty and tyranny seemed to borrow the lexicon of liberals like FDR, LBJ and Woodrow Wilson. With a full house of Republican National Committee members listening aboard the USS Midway in San Diego, Mr. Romney implored his party last week “to lift people out of poverty” and “to make the world safe.” The first phrase is a favorite of liberals who gush over Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal and Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society programs...

The undertold story of how the Pilgrims tried hard to live under what we could call communism and nearly starved to death. In 1623 they abruptly switched to private property and free markets and never went hungry again.

Some liberals like to pass Josh Barro off as a conservative. The New York Times correspondent debunked that notion himself, tweeting that he was most easily understood as a "moderate." But after his appearance on MSNBC today, another term might more aptly apply: elitist liberal. Speaking with Alex Wagner, Barro crammed a carload of condescension into thirty seconds. Barro claimed that health insurance is "weirdly complicated," and thus that Americans can't be permitted to choose it as they would other products. No, we can't let people use their "own judgment." The free market "doesn't work very well" with health insurance....

<p>Finally, just 40% think success is determined by forces outside out control vs. 51% for the average advanced economy.</p> <p>So Americans still have a great faith in the power of individual effort to make one’s own breaks and climb the ladder of success. At the same time, though, they are worried about what the future holds with just 30% confident that the next generation will be better off than the current one.</p>

"... we have lefty activists in full cry all across the nation demanding an increase in the minimum wage as the cure for inequality and a sluggish economy. And people believe them! Liberal journalist Norah O'Donnell asks Republican candidate Thom Tillis in North Carolina if a minimum wage of $7.65 an hour is “enough."Got any settled science on that, Norah?And what about the children?After two hundred years of a capitalism that has lifted the average person from an income of $3 per day to $100 per day,you would think that the educated, evolved people would have decided that the science...

Would you like to own a small business someday? If so, sorry — the Service Employees International Union would rather you didn’t. The SEIU has convinced the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to eviscerate the franchising model that many small-business owners rely on.Under the current model, these small-business owners pay for the right to use a corporate brand. The franchising corporation researches appealing products. It also does marketing to promote the brand. In return, the local franchisees agree to produce those products to fit certain price and quality specifications. The local franchisee handles all the hiring and employment.

In the beginning, there was nothing. Then, Al Gore created the internet; and soon there were entire businesses using the interwebs for commerce and profit. We really should have known that it was only a matter of time until DC insiders tried to squeeze a little more tax revenue out of that particular free-market innovation. The Market Place Fairness Act (AKA: Small Internet-Business Death Sentence) is making a comeback. After Harry Reid managed to pass the punitive tax bill through the Democrat controlled Senate, some Beltway wonks are now trying to resurrect support for it in the US House. And,...

“Here’s your drink, darling,” the bartender said with a smile. He seemed upbeat as he made drinks and greeted customers. “Do you like your job?” I asked him. “I hate it,” he confessed. “Honestly, I hate my job.” I keep running into young people who put on a show of being happy with their lives but, when probed a bit, quickly concede that their smiles mask trials. A few days ago, I met a young woman who told me she works as a hairdresser at two different salons while seeking work in her desired field. The next day, I met...

Hobby Lobby CEO David Green is committed to trying to run his business the way Jesus might have. After a massive victory for religious freedom at the Supreme Court on Monday, Christian-owned arts and crafts giant Hobby Lobby has announced that its minimum wage for full-time hourly workers will be raised to $14.50 per hour. Effective immediately, the announcement also entails that part-time hourly workers receive $9.50 per hour. Given the track record of Green's retail chain, the wage increase is not incredibly dramatic. In 2012, the retailer was already paying full-time employees $13 per hour while part-timers earned $9....