Free Republic

Several recent polls, plus the popularity of Sen. Bernie Sanders, demonstrate that young people prefer socialism to free market capitalism. That, I believe, is a result of their ignorance and indoctrination during their school years, from kindergarten through college. For the most part, neither they nor many of their teachers and professors know what free market capitalism is. Free market capitalism, wherein there is peaceful voluntary exchange, is morally superior to any other economic system. Why? Let's start with my initial premise. All of us own ourselves. I am my private property, and you are yours. Murder, rape, theft and...

It took me years to figure out that markets work better than government. I started out as a typical Ralph Nader-influenced consumer reporter, convinced that companies constantly rip us off. To me and most of my fellow left-leaning reporters, the answer was always: more regulation. Gradually, I figured out that regulation causes many more problems than the occasional rip-off artist does. Companies that served customers well prospered, while market competition meant cheaters seldom got away with cheating for long. Regulation, by contrast, lasted forever. It punished innovation, making it harder for good people to offer better alternatives. How do I...

Do you like convenience, service, simplicity, competition, more jobs and all the other features of a free market that stays free and ever productive? Then you'll love a service like Uber or Lyft, which use private drivers to give customers a, yes, lyft. No waiting forever, just door-to-door or even corner-to-corner service. Provided by friendly folks who use their own cars and stand to collect the lion's share of the fares, the worker being worthy of his hire. Who wouldn't like it? It's good for the customer, good for the driver, and good for the local economy. Here's who...

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Argentina's state-controlled oil company has finished a U.S. and European tour with no new investors to show for it. YPF President Miguel Galuccio had 40 meetings with 70 businesses and investors in Los Angeles, Boston, New York and London, inviting them to help develop the world's third-largest reserves of shale oil and natural gas. ......Argentina is sitting on a fossil fuel fortune, but needs billions of dollars to produce it, and major oil companies have yet to commit. Analysts blame the government's heavy hand in the market and Grupo Repsol's threat to sue any partner for...

Free markets depend on truth telling. Prices must reflect the valuations of consumers; interest rates must be reliable guides to entrepreneurs allocating capital across time; and a firm's accounts must reflect the true value of the business. Rather than truth telling, we are becoming an economy of liars. The cause is straightforward: crony capitalism. Thomas Carlyle, the 19th century Victorian essayist, unflatteringly described classical liberalism as "anarchy plus a constable." As a romanticist, Carlyle hated the system—but described it accurately. Classical liberals, whose modern counterparts are libertarians and small-government conservatives, believed that the state's duties should be limited (1) to...

What is Classical Liberalism? The objective of classical liberals is to free as many people as possible from the tyranny of others. Classical liberals believe this requires replacing public policies that limit individual freedom with policies that respect and expand individual rights and autonomy. Modern classical liberalism, sometimes called the “freedom philosophy,” was articulated by prominent economists and political philosophers beginning in the 1930s and 1940s. That group included Gary Becker, Aaron Director, Milton Friedman, Baldy Harper, Friedrich Hayek, Henry Hazlitt, Frank Knight, Frank S. Meyer, Ludwig von Mises, Leonard Read, and George Stigler. (Source:  Joseph L. Bast, Heartland...