The Costs of Compulsory Education - Aaron Smith - Mises Daily

The Costs of Compulsory Education - Aaron Smith - Mises Daily: "The perils of state standards imposed on schools are akin to the shortcomings of centrally planned prices: no amount of research or expertise could possibly account for the infinite variables that define the wants and needs of unique consumers. The opportunity costs of failing to pursue areas of aptitude and interest are simply incalculable, and result in nothing but boredom and frustration for students"

"Compulsory-education laws invite further intrusions into our personal lives. Still, the left-liberal who supports marijuana decriminalization and the conservative who advocates for gun rights often fail to see this obvious relationship. Simply stated, à la carte liberty is veiled tyranny — it is impossible to sacrifice one right without putting others in danger."

Walmart and Discrimination - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Daily

Walmart and Discrimination - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Daily: "Most Americans don't have a particular preference for having a man versus a woman ring up their groceries at Walmart, and so they take claims of sexual discrimination seriously. But Americans on net do have a preference to be greeted at the door of a restaurant by a young, pretty woman, and that's why restaurants cater to that preference. This also explains why movie producers are willing to pay millions of dollars to gorgeous stars, even though less attractive thespians could give 'the same' performance for much less money."

"If analyzed, the reason for this different intuition would boil down to the fact that hiring pretty women as hostesses actually is a 'business decision' catering to customer preferences, whereas hiring pretty women as midlevel executive assistants is a 'personal decision' catering to the manager's preferences. The first practice makes the company more money, while the second squanders it."

"the free market automatically punishes 'bad' discrimination. Unlike under government laws, here there is no chance of a guilty party escaping his or her punishment — and the punishment itself is exactly proportional to the severity of the 'offense.'"

"f it really were true that hundreds of thousands of women were being systematically underpaid by Walmart, then Target and other stores could reap an enormous advantage by offering slight pay raises and inducing them all to quit."

Estonia, the Little Country That Could | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Estonia, the Little Country That Could | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "By 1987, it is estimated that the Finns were seven times richer per capita than the Estonians. But as a result of undertaking the most radical free-market reforms of any of the transition countries, the Estonians have been gaining on their Finnish neighbors, who also have continued to do well, and now have about two-thirds of the per capita income of the average Finn."

The Isolationist Charge: The Last Refuge of the Scoundrel | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Isolationist Charge: The Last Refuge of the Scoundrel | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "McCain's ignorance is striking. He claimed that U.S. intervention stopped a slaughter in the city of Benghazi, even though Libya's Moammar Qadhafi had not committed mass killings in the other cities which he recaptured. And Qadhafi aimed his florid rhetoric at rebel fighters, not civilians."

Welfare before the Welfare State - Joshua Fulton - Mises Daily

Welfare before the Welfare State - Joshua Fulton - Mises Daily: "Mutual aid was particularly popular among the poor and the working class. For instance, in New York City in 1909 40 percent of families earning less than $1,000 a year, little more than the 'living wage,' had members who were in mutual-aid societies.[2] Ethnicity, however, was an even greater predictor of mutual-aid membership than income. The 'new immigrants,' such as the Germans, Bohemians, and Russians, many of whom were Jews, participated in mutual-aid societies at approximately twice the rate of native whites and six times the rate of the Irish.[3] This may have been due to new immigrants' need for an enhanced social safety net.

By the 1920s, at least one out of every three males was a member of a mutual-aid society.[4] Members of societies carried over $9 billion worth of life insurance by 1920. During the same period, 'lodges dominated the field of health insurance.'[5] Numerous lodges offered unemployment benefits. Some black fraternal lodges, taking note of the sporadic nature of African-American employment at the time, allowed members to receive unemployment benefits even if they were up to six months behind in dues.[6]"