false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172361463m/168899.jpg 168899 2 Charles Murray first got famous for his book <i>Losing Ground</i>'s argument that welfare programs actually hamper the progress of poor people. Then he got even more famous for saying (along with his co-author Richard Herrnstein) in <i>The Bell Curve</i> that genetically-based IQ deficits also hamper their progress. This little book is worth the read because we get to see what he thinks the government should really do about all this: not much. On the plus side, Murray is a very clear writer. So we get, for instance, a nicely drawn discussion of the nature of public goods. But although this book is offered in the spirit of the Revolutionary pamphleteers, when it gets down to cases, Murray comes across as a man who's lost his common sense. For example, he claims that if all businesses were allowed to opt out of the current government regulatory scheme, provided that they display prominent signs saying UNREGULATED, "just about every small business will want to be unregulated. ... No more building inspectors, elevator inspectors, or restaurant inspectors. Owners of unregulated small businesses will have to answer to no one but their customers." He doesn't seem to notice that those customers will be running at top speed away from those clearly marked buildings, elevators, and restaurants. 163102 1996 What It Means to Be a Libertarian total:56|5:15|4:25|3:13|2:3|1:0| 56 220 90 13 5 1 false false Sun Nov 30 21:05:38 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 30 21:08:15 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Mon Jun 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 17:06:28 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 13:05:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 25 10:20:36 -0800 2009 Sat Jun 13 14:10:33 -0700 2009
Having recently read Murray's other work, I found this to be the logical next step in his thi...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Nov 20 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 17 23:41:57 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 25 10:08:16 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Mon May 05 07:53:22 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 04 14:04:46 -0700 2008 Losing Ground and it was a wakeup call to all who believe in the gospel of ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu May 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 07:39:19 -0700 2009 Fri May 29 05:51:26 -0700 2009 ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Feb 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Oct 14 13:44:31 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 10 16:43:17 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Sat Sep 12 08:07:02 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 12 08:08:43 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Apr 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 06 01:27:06 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 10 01:41:20 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun Feb 03 06:54:48 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 03 06:56:49 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Tue Nov 11 07:17:34 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 11 07:18:48 -0800 2008 4 0 true false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Nov 15 14:27:53 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 15 14:43:53 -0800 2008 once 3 0 false false Thu Apr 10 19:57:29 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 10 19:58:08 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Wed Nov 25 07:06:02 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 25 07:07:32 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Mon Nov 23 12:55:38 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 23 12:55:40 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 09 13:05:18 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 09 13:05:18 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Nov 07 23:19:25 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 23:19:25 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 05 10:13:49 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 10:13:49 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 02 19:33:38 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 19:33:38 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sat Oct 31 07:41:31 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 31 07:41:31 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=168899