By Richard Rowland The Problem: Fat and Sassy Many of our so-called “political leaders” are concerned about the obesity of individuals out there in the public. They seem intent on saving them from their own “misbehavior”.  Yet, the governments that these folks operate are so morbidly obese in their own right that they are close to death—which for a government would be akin to going bankrupt and disappearing. But the politicians who...

by Paul R. Gregory During the French presidential campaign, pundits assured us that Francois Hollande was simply playing to his socialist base. Once in office, he’d prove to be a pragmatist. All his talk of 75 percent income tax rates, wealth surcharges, infrastructure banks, new taxes on dividends, hiring more public employees, not giving an inch on entitlements, and punishing the financial sector was just talk. Two months later, we know...

by Paul Gregory French voters went to the polls today to winnow a ten-candidate presidential field down to the “right-of-center” incumbent (Nicolas Sarkozy) and his socialist challenger (Francois Hollande). The two will face each other in a  runoff election on May 6. A Sarkozy loss would be the first of an incumbent French president in  thirty years. It would threaten the German-French sponsored European Union rescue package. It is no...

by Paul Gregory “I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” Barack Obama October 13, 2008 The  story below is based on Thomas Mayor’s Hunter-Gatherers: The Original Libertarians. He demonstrates that we are genetically programmed to respect  individual rights to the fruits of our own efforts. Our prehistoric forbearers did not engage in voluntary redistribution. They shared perishable food, not out of...