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You hear the argument every election cycle. It’s espoused at the federal, state, and local level. Democrats use it. Republicans use it. Surprisingly, even some Libertarians and anarchists can be heard appealing to it. It’s the ‘lesser of two evils argument,’ but despite its wide adoption, it’s a fallacy. One trick to making a fallacy …
Contrary to the claims of many progressives and socialists, wealth is not created primarily through labor; rather it is created through taking risks and having a willingness to delay gratification. Yes, labor can create some wealth by converting and combining lesser valued goods into more valued goods, but most labor is simply traded—it doesn’t actually …
There’s a bit of a trend right now to share unpopular, non-political opinions on Facebook. Here are some of mine. I don’t smoke and never have, but I don’t mind cigarette smoke. I do mind those who complain about it. Nothing ruins food like adding vegetables to it. Especially shredded lettuce… No one wants your …
Goods and services aren’t free because they involve scarce resources. If you want heat, food, shelter, clothing, transportation, internet, and all the other things that make life comfortable and fun, you either have to make them yourself—chop wood and build a fire, dig a well, forage for food, etc.—or you have to trade for them …
I recently had an interesting (and short, because he quickly blocked me) conversation on Facebook with a self-styled “anarcho-primitivist” named Justin Stout. He claimed that “economics is a form of brain damage” and went on to make his case thusly: Nomadic gatherer-hunters produced nothing. A hunter does not produce wild animals. A gatherer does not …
The employer-employee relationship doesn’t involve authority because it is an ongoing, voluntary trade of labor for goods (typically money) or occasionally services. There is often confusion on this issue because it might appear that when a “boss” tells his employee what to do, he is exercising authority over that employee. Consider this example to help …