Ideas Matter

Government Distorts Healthcare: Obamacare Doubles Down

The U.S. healthcare system is not a free market. Not even close. There are five major things wrong with the system that make it less free and, therefore, more expensive -- both in terms of insurance and in terms of care. Most are mentioned in this video. But here's my list:

 

What's the Labor of a Burger Flipper Worth?

"Living wage" is common parlance these days. And yet if Antony Davies is right, the supply and demand for labor is no different from that self-same law applied in other areas of the economy. You can't legislate away an economic law without distortions. As we've shown here many times, minimum wages actually hurt poor people.

Even if we agreed with Karl Marx that an "unemployed army" of immigrants and other poor people keep the price of low-skill labor low, can't we agree that 4 productive people making $5 per hour (labor market rate) is better for the social order than 2 productive people making $7.50 and 2 people drawing government benefits while doing nothing of value? 

Should Government Regulate Monopolies?

Lynn Kiesling explains why the competitive process -- with the lure of big margins -- is far better than government interfering in the marketplace to break up a monopoly. Breaking up a monopoly can undermine innovation, Kiesling argues. Where competitors see an inpenetrable wall, innovators see opportunity. But when it comes right down to it, lasting monopolies aren't created by monopolists alone...

Student Loans: The Next Debt Crisis

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Because you see, another financial crisis looms. Just as there were millions of people given mortgages they couldn't afford, a million graduates are about to discover they have a useless degree they couldn't afford. And why? Because the federal government subsidizes student loans. And debt is for tomorrow. What is worse...

Economies in Transition: A Question of Institutions

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, some countries have done better than others. The question of whether capitalism has succeeded or failed in these countries is the degree to which the countries have actually embraced capitalism. In other words, institutions matter. And some countries adopted better rules than others. Adding to Professor Yakovlev's analysis, let's consider some of the evidence.

Inflation Nation

Notice how in the lead-up to the election there seems to be slight improvement in the unemployment rate. But we're also starting to see the "ragged" forms of inflation to which Steve Horwitz refers in the video. Let's start with the price of gas. Not all of it, but a lot of it, is a result of inflation. Here's why:

Milton Friedman: "We Cannot Continue Half Slave, Half Free"

For a little background, Milton Friedman is talking to a special interest group -- the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), which is still around today. Friedman warns generally about the threat of government growth and the loss of freedom. He says we cannot continue to exist in this half-state -- that is, "half-slave, half-free." But around 3:40, something interesting happens. Friedman courageously shows how the manufacturers are themselves becoming more and more beholden to government. The "masters" are no longer customers, Friedman says, Washington bureaucrats are.

The Great Boom and Bust: A Failure of Government Policies

There are two major stories of the Great Recession: one is of capitalist excess carried out in an environment with too little regulation. This supposedly created a need to regulate and intervene in the economy, so we got stimulus spending and financial "reform." Indeed, this master narrative has been offered by behemoth and its supplicants on the left to justify more state intervention. The other narrative is that the Great Recession was caused by multiple factors -- all of which originated with government. It's time more people knew this latter story, because it has the benefit of being true.

Deroy Murdock on Obamacare (and My Tale of U.S. health care)

It just so happens I had a doctor's appointment this morning. I hadn't had a checkup in a year, so my wife decided it was time. I saw the doc, had some bloodwork done -- the usual. But there were three tests/shots the doctor recommended, which I forewent because they were unlikely to help me or turn up anything important. They were "up-sells," you could say. In fact, he didn't even know what anything cost. Well, guess what? I pay out of a health savings account (HSA). So I'm careful. My bill? It was still over $500 -- and it would have been more. I was paying prices in a system designed for people like the woman in front of me at checkout who had no idea what the full cost of her visit was.

SpOILed: A Defense of Plentiful Energy

Some people won't be happy. But there's a film coming out that defends plentiful energy -- including fossil fuels -- as a key ingredient of economic growth. Many overlook the relationship between energy and economic growth. But there is a strong correlation between growth and plentiful energy--one that looks to be connected to thermodynamic law. Consider: