FEE’s Richard Morrison writes, “A capitalist economy creates the opportunity to build wealth for everyone who cares to participate in it, employees and CEOs alike. Capitalist countries might have higher degrees of income and wealth inequality, but they also tend to have much higher degrees of income and wealth overall.

Are there really fewer capitalists than ever before?https://t.co/inoRd7BETl

— Jon Miltimore (@miltimore79) January 22, 2022

Moreover, the presumption that everyone should be equal in career and financial achievements denies not only the diversity of human society – that we have different abilities and strengths – but also the diversity of our goals and desires. Even if we were all equally talented and intelligent, we would want different things and pursue vocations of differing value to others. Only a tyrannical micromanaging of everyone’s life could make us financially and demographically the same.”

Read the entire column.

The post Where have all the capitalists gone? appeared first on Liberty Tree.

FEE’s Brad Polumbo writes, “The federal government has spent an astounding $42,000 per federal taxpayer on so-called ‘stimulus’ efforts since the pandemic began. Where did all that money go? Well, as it turns out, one of the biggest stimulus programs, the Paycheck Protection Program, failed miserably.

$800 Billion Stimulus Program Failed Terribly and Mostly Benefited the Wealthy, MIT Economist Finds.@brad_polumbo has the story: https://t.co/y5rItRw7KH

— FEE (@feeonline) January 18, 2022

At least, that’s the finding of a new study from MIT economist David Autor and nine coauthors. They examined the $800 billion Paycheck Protection Program, which gave ‘loans,’ most of which won’t have to be paid back, to businesses. It was created by Republicans and Democrats in Congress alike in hopes of helping businesses preserve their employees’ jobs for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis.

The study tracks the money to see where it ended up and what it achieved. The results… aren’t pretty.”

Read the entire column.

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FEE’s Jon Hersey writes, “Along comes a rich, young, healthy athlete who dares to question authority and maintain his right ‘to choose what’s best for my body.’ It obviously seems unfair for one person not to have to follow the rules that everyone else has to follow.

Australia just revoked Novak Djokovic’s visa again, days after a judge reinstated it. https://t.co/iNNDmqi9MC

— FEE (@feeonline) January 14, 2022

That being said, consistent application alone does not make a rule fair. The question that virtually everyone’s asking is: Shouldn’t Djokovic have to follow the same rules as everyone else? But the more important question of any rule is: Should this rule even exist?”

Read the entire column.

The post The Djokovic fiasco exposes the absurdity of Australia’s ‘zero-COVID’ measures appeared first on Liberty Tree.

FEE’s Jon Miltimore writes, “As the world enters its third year of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, strategies to contain the virus continue to be explored, examined, and scrutinized. In some cases, clear answers remain stubbornly elusive.

New evidence out of the UK showed the research the government used to justify making masks mandatory in schools was “not conclusive.” https://t.co/b1YQK0OkJT

— FEE (@feeonline) January 13, 2022

New evidence out of the United Kingdom showed the research the government used to justify making masks mandatory in schools was ‘not conclusive.’

‘The government’s own study in the autumn did not provide proof of a statistically significant impact,’ the BBC reported last week.”

Read the entire column.

The post BBC: UK government’s own study on school mask mandates failed to show conclusive results appeared first on Liberty Tree.

FEE’s Tom Mullen writes, “It makes not one iota of difference to Americans living in the United States if Russia annexed all of Ukraine, much less Crimea. Washington’s interests in the region are purely imperial and contrary to those of most U.S. citizens. It is also questionable that the U.S. could win a limited conflict in the region against Russia, given the logistics.

Tensions between the US and Russia are needlessly heating up again over Ukraine. The results could be grave. https://t.co/KXQsbso8Uc

— FEE (@feeonline) January 12, 2022

It is equally unrealistic that Russia could win a full-scale conventional war against NATO. The U.S. alone had a military budget in 2020 more than ten times that of Russia. That would leave Russia with only one alternative before surrender.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Washington has thought of itself as the ‘shining city on the hill’ leading a ‘new world order’ of democracy and peace. Considering its recent exploits in the Middle East and Ukraine, in 2021 it more resembles a drunk bully stumbling around the world slurring its words and picking fights with smaller opponents.”

Read the entire column.

The post DC’s stance on Ukraine is as divorced from reality as its COVID regime appeared first on Liberty Tree.

FEE’s Patrick Carroll writes, “Progressives are typically pretty good at pointing out places where privilege is leading to blindness and hubris (indeed, they often see privilege even where it doesn’t exist). But there’s one occurance of privilege that always seems to get a pass, and that is the privilege associated with gun control.

Consider, for example, someone who’s from a wealthy, safe neighborhood. They know very little about what it’s like to live in a high-crime area. They have probably never been robbed or threatened with violence from a total stranger. And if they do face threats, they have no qualms with calling the (armed) police who are usually responsive and happy to help.

Before we tell someone they are better off disarmed, perhaps we should take stock of how privileged we are to not need guns ourselves.

My latest for @feeonline: https://t.co/b3IaJqW03L

— Patrick Carroll (@PatrickC1995) January 10, 2022

Now compare that to the experience of someone from a rougher part of town. First, the cops there are probably not as responsive. What’s more, the cops can often become antagonistic, poking their nose where it doesn’t belong (see below) and sometimes arresting the very people they arrived to help…

So what do you do if you live in a high-crime area where you can’t trust the police to help you? For many, the answer is to buy a gun.”

Read the entire column.

The post Gun control comes from a place of privilege appeared first on Liberty Tree.

FEE’s Jon Miltimore writes, “The NCAA on Thursday released its new COVID-19 guidance for winter sports, and the guidance contains some important news.

As ESPN reports, the NCAA’s COVID-19 Medical Advisory Group updated its definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ to account for various new vaccinations, boosters, and immunity factors.

The NCAA recognizes natural immunity. Here’s what it means. https://t.co/k9obYTXWUC

— FEE (@feeonline) January 10, 2022

‘Fully vaccinated individuals now include those within two months of receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, five months of receiving the Pfizer vaccine series or six months of receiving the Moderna vaccine series;’ reports ESPN staff writer Jeff Borzello, ‘and individuals who are beyond the aforementioned timeline and have received the booster vaccine.’

But perhaps the biggest development came in the following line.

‘Individuals within 90 days of a documented COVID-19 infection fall within the equivalent of ‘fully vaccinated.”

Read the entire column.

The post NCAA: Athletes who had Covid will be considered ‘fully vaccinated’ appeared first on Liberty Tree.

FEE’s Brad Polumbo writes, “For many people, the start of a new year is an opportunity for genuine self-reflection. If Democratic lawmakers take an honest look at 2021, the inescapable conclusion is that voters chose with their feet — and rejected high taxes.

A new analysis from the right-leaning Tax Foundation reaches this conclusion. Analyst Jared Walczak broke down U.S. Census Bureau data and reports that while the United States overall saw only minor population growth in 2021, there were very significant shifts in state populations as people relocated.

Taxes Matter…..Blue states are committing slow suicide.https://t.co/Ezug0O4VtS

— Grover Norquist (@GroverNorquist) January 9, 2022

The five states (counting Washington, D.C., for analysis purposes) that lost the most residents on net were Washington, D.C., New York, Illinois, Hawaii, and California. Meanwhile, the states that saw the biggest net gains in population were Idaho, Utah, Montana, Arizona, South Carolina, Delaware, Texas, Nevada, Florida, and North Carolina.

Notice a pattern? The states with population losses tend to be higher-tax states, while those that saw an influx of new residents tend to be lower-tax states.”

Read the entire column.

The post Americans fled high-tax states in 2021 appeared first on Liberty Tree.

FEE’s Hannah Cox writes, “Many of those speaking out against Twitter’s decisions called for the repeal or reform of Section 230, antitrust legislation to ‘break up’ Big Tech, or, on the most extreme end, for social media platforms to be nationalized…

You get a choice on whether or not you want to use these platforms, and if you do then you play by their rules. That part is only a problem for people who believe they are entitled to the fruits of another person’s labor. Suggesting these platforms owe you an account is theoretically the same as arguing that people have a right to healthcare services. You don’t, and the minute you attempt to use the government to compel private actors to give you something is the minute you become an enemy of the free market and free speech…

If Americans are concerned that the government is pressuring Big Tech to censor certain viewpoints, it makes absolutely no sense for them to think giving the government more power over these companies would lead to less censorship.

My latest:https://t.co/8kuLueo91s

— Hannah Cox (@HannahDCox) January 6, 2022

And if Americans are concerned that the government is pressuring these companies to censor certain viewpoints, it makes absolutely no sense for them to think giving the government more power over these companies would lead to less censorship. There’s no logic behind this sentiment.

Make no mistake, the solutions to this problem offered by nationalist types—like Section 230 repeal or antitrust legislation—would only entrench the powers of existing companies and give Democrats—who are pushing for more censorship—exactly what they want.”

Read the entire column.

The post If government is pressuring Big Tech to censor conservatives, more government won’t help appeared first on Liberty Tree.

FEE’s Brad Polumbo writes, “I spoke with Senator Rand Paul, a libertarian-leaning Kentucky Republican, about why this alarming uptick in Big Tech censorship is so concerning—and why the free market, not Big Government, is the best response.

‘I think they have the right as private property owners to ban me, censor me, do whatever they want,’ the senator said. ‘But I don’t agree with it ideologically; I don’t like the idea of associating with small-minded people who are so close-minded that they want to censor what I have to say.’

Everybody on the Right is complaining about #BigTech but nobodys doing anything about it. They just complain, complain, complain. Their next response is oh the government should break up Big Tech or regulate it. I don’t want to do any of that @SenRandPaul
https://t.co/DS6P3HNt8G

— XIMENA (@RepublicanChick) January 5, 2022

Paul explained why the idea of banning ‘misinformation’ is actually antithetical to the scientific method properly understood.

‘We only arrive at the truth through disputation, by hearing [more] voices,’ he said. ‘It’s easy enough to say something is ‘misinformation.’ But really, a lot of things are debatable…’

‘The impulse to censor people’s speech is actually illiberal.’

‘They’re coming to this Platonic idea that, basically, it’s too dangerous to let the rabble know things, we need to protect them from certain ideas that might be unsettling,’ he continued. ‘But that’s not a step forward; I think that’s a couple-thousand-year-old step backwards.”

Read the entire column.

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