Free Republic

The Illusion of Free Trade“There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” says Milton Friedman, economist and Noble Prize winner. Nevertheless, Milton Friedman is the most prominent champion of “free” trade and it is difficult to find any economist1 that disagrees. His position is very straight forward: Our market is open to you without tariffs or other restrictions. Sell here what you can and wish to. Buy whatever you can and wish to. In that way cooperation among individuals can be worldwide and free.2 Friedman sees this as way to open markets and at the same time eliminate foreign aid...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here is Joan in East Liverpool, Ohio. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello. CALLER: Hi. RUSH: Hi. CALLER: You're my hero. RUSH: Wow. CALLER: Always have been. RUSH: Wow. Thank you very much. CALLER: You know, Milton Friedman wrote a book back in the seventies, I think, called Free to Choose. RUSH: Yes, ma'am. CALLER: And then they made it into -- or maybe it came first, made it into a ten-part series that they put on PBS. RUSH: Exactly right. You are exactly right. CALLER: And I'll tell you, back then, nothing was being done in...

After a lifetime of studying the left, I have concluded that leftism is a form of moral poison. It causes otherwise decent and kind people who take it into their systems to say and/or do cruel and sometimes evil things. While not specifically about the left, a major new scholarly book, "Pathological Altruism" (Oxford University Press​), explores this phenomenon of people wanting to do good things yet ending up doing bad. It applies to The New York Times​ foreign affairs columnist Thomas L. Friedman, who has a deep altruistic urge to bring peace to the Middle East. But because he...

In this brief clip from Donahue, economist and conservative rock star Milton Freidman makes the case that we need to make today. Again and again and again.

AUSTIN — Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman today called for the decriminalization of marijuana to avoid further clogging state prisons with nonviolent offenders. ADVERTISEMENT He also said he would favor a review of people already imprisoned on marijuana charges to "rehab them, try to get them back into society." "We've got to clear some of the room out of the prisons so we can put the bad guys in there, like the pedophiles and the politicians," said Friedman, a humorist and author. Friedman said he doesn't yet have specifics on how decriminalization would work, including what amount of marijuana a...

AUSTIN — Entertainer Kinky Friedman and state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, the two independent candidates for governor were certified for the November ballot Thursday by Secretary of State Roger Williams. ``Texas has a process for verifying the eligibility of independent candidates for a place on the ballot and today we have finished that process,” Williams said. ``Our method of verifying every signature is the most accurate, has been upheld by the courts and was done faster than in years past.” Williams notified the two campaigns Thursday afternoon that they had met the requirements for ballot access. Both candidates exceeded the...

This is an Excerpt A few years ago, my youngest daughter participated in the National History Day program for eighth graders. The question that year was "turning points" in history, and my daughter's project was "How Sputnik Led to the Internet." I worry that 20 years from now, some eighth grader will be doing her National History Day project on how America's reaction to 9/11 unintentionally led to an erosion of core elements of American identity. --------------- Bottom line: We urgently need a national commission to look at all the little changes we have made in response to 9/11 -...

What started as a story about how the Bush team handled unspecific warnings about possible terrorist attacks in the U.S. before 9/11 has now prompted the Bushies not only to defend themselves from charges of irresponsibility — which they are entitled to do — but to go on a Chicken Little warnings binge that another attack is imminent, inevitable and around the corner, but we can't tell you when, where or how. Look, in the wake of 9/11, I would never rule out any kind of attack. That would be foolhardy. But I'm no more interested in indicting the Bush...