So you’ve maneuvered the Obamacare website, plugged in your top-secret information and found out how much you are forced to pay to avoid a fine. And for some of you, it turns out you qualify for a government subsidy — making the premium sound like a bargain. But signing on that line to accept the …

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” As the inequality gap grows, there is an ideological battle unfolding in the West. On the one hand, there are those who think government can fix things. It must do more, …

On Feb. 7 the United States will once again reach its statutory debt limit, meaning it cannot legally borrow any more money. Since the obvious option of cutting spending to match the amount of revenue that the government collects is off the table for some inexplicable reason, Congress will have to pass a new, higher …

The New York Times published an interminable article on health care recently. Plenty of facts — how scrupulous are these journalists! — but the article displayed absolutely no comprehension of the basics of cause and effect. I was left wondering about the whole point. The article details how the health care system rewards specialists to …

For critics of the surveillance state, it is tempting to see President Obama’s speech a few weeks ago as a partial victory: Prompted by Edward Snowden’s leaks and the public pressure for National Security Agency reforms, he announced significant changes to the program that collects and stores information about all telephone calls. And he promised …

The Largest Company in History: “The United States Corporation of Government (USCOG)” I follow global social and commercial networks, looking for entrepreneurial opportunities. Innovation surges when industry and government models change. Buggy whips. Landline phones. Railroads. The Soviet Union. Apartheid South Africa. All marked social and commercial innovation, both bad and good. We are witnessing …

We’d like to give the banks in Australia some credit. They’ve finally gone and done it. They have caught up with 1960s technology. They’ve figured out how to use PIN numbers. How to only use PIN numbers, that is. They’re considering scrapping signatures on credit cards to cut down on fraud. Apparently, having to verify …

We put in a good-citizen call to the SEC the other day. “There’s a massive scheme to manipulate stock prices,” we told the friendly agent. “I have to tell you that your call is being monitored so that we can better serve the public,” he replied. “Oh, don’t worry about that. The NSA is tapping …

Dr. William C. Padgett is a retired optometrist who has been trying to bring an elderly care facility to Beaufort County, North Carolina, for over a decade. “Our senior citizens,” he laments, “are finding that it is difficult and in many cases impossible to find an appropriate long-term care facility locally.” Though he has received …

We’ve pointed out in the past that President Obama’s views on the surveillance state shifted completely from when he was Senator to when he was President. As Senator, he supported a bunch of reforms that are very much like the ones his panel have suggested — and which he’s about to ignore. The NY Times …

Bitcoins are largely considered digital currency (or “crypto currency”) so you’d expect it to be treated like currency on a retail web site. But the Internal Revenue Service might not think so.

If you don’t have the angst out of your system concerning Wall Street banksters, Government Sachs, and the Affordable Care Act, settle in with Matt Taibbi’s Griftopia to make your blood boil one more time. Investors should be reminded of 2008 as they shrug their shoulders and put their money back in the stock market. …

What do 8 of the 10 wealthiest people in the U.S. have in common? Aside from being able to fly in private jets, the common thread is that each of them has made their fortune thanks to a start-up. Let me explain… From tech titans like Bill Gates and Larry Ellison (founders of Microsoft and …

Continuing revelations of the extensive scope of the U.S. government’s mass spying program, piled on top of decades of foreign intervention and liberty suppression at home, can lead Americans to question if they should give up their work for peace and liberty. Nevertheless, there is reason for hope that pursuing this work will yield success. …

The power to tax has long conferred the power to destroy one’s political opponents. When the latest IRS politicization scandal erupted in May, many commentators talked as if the abuses were a novelty in American history. But, as David Burnham noted in his masterful 1990 book, A Law Unto Itself: The IRS and the Abuse …

Professor John H. Cochrane of the University of Chicago had an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Dec. 25, in which he gave a brief description of (among other things) a market in which individuals buy our own health insurance — and not from an Obamacare exchange. According to Professor Cochrane: “…we should transition …

Coast to coast, states are leaving taxpayers on the hook for massive debt payments over the coming decades as state governments continue to abuse their metaphorical credit cards. A new report released last week says state governments have more than $5.1 trillion in debt, largely because of pension obligations to former and current state employees, …

The great inventors/businessmen of the First Industrial Revolution, such as James Watt and Matthew Boulton of steam-engine fame, were not just smart but privileged. Most were either born into the ruling class or lucky enough to be apprenticed to one of the elite. For most of history since then, entrepreneurship has meant either setting up …

In 1859, a book was published with the title On Liberty. Written by John Stuart Mill, a philosopher of the time, this work focused on the difference between liberty and authority. Fast-forward to 2013 and we are in a time period in which it seems like “authority” has been winning the battle behind our backs… …

You’ve probably heard that President Obama signed up for Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. ObamaCare) health care. Well, sort of. He won’t actually be using it because he already receives dandy federal government coverage, as well he should. And as would be expected, he didn’t actually sign up himself because some staff did that for him, …

As many as 50,000 stray dogs roam the streets and vacant homes of bankrupt Detroit, replacing residents, menacing humans who remain, and overwhelming the city’s ability to find them homes or peaceful deaths. They are among the victims of a historic financial and political collapse. Detroit, a former auto-manufacturing powerhouse, declared the largest U.S. municipal …

“Inequality is the defining challenge of our time,” according to President Obama. It’s certainly the topic of the day for Paul Krugman, Joe Stiglitz and a whole raft of liberal pundits. But have you noticed that hardly anyone else is talking about it? When is the last time you heard a shoeshine person or a …

“Nowadays to be intelligible is to be found out.” — Oscar Wilde In the wacky world of American politics, if you as an employer have a religious objection to paying for your employees’ contraceptives, it is you who is contemptuous of religious freedom. As the New York Times editorial board lectured a judge who thinks …

Socialism is the big lie of the 20th century. While it promised prosperity, equality, and security, it delivered poverty, misery, and tyranny. Equality was achieved only in the sense that everyone was equal in his or her misery. In the same way that a Ponzi scheme or chain letter initially succeeds but eventually collapses, socialism …