Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.'s Blog, page 2264

The Tragedies of Social Justice

I don’t mind saying that this column represents a grossly understated review of “Discrimination and Disparities,” just published by my longtime friend and colleague Dr. Thomas Sowell. In less than 200 pages, Sowell lays waste to myth after myth not only in the United States but around the globe.

One of those myths is that but for the fact of discrimination, we’d all be proportionately represented in socio-economic characteristics, such as career, income, education and incarceration. The fact...

Algorean Fools and Frauds

Judge William Alsup has laughed off suggestions that he’s currently presiding over the “global warming” equivalent of the Scopes Monkey Trial.

But like it or not this is essentially what is being played out right now in a U.S. federal court in San Francisco.

The climate alarmists have finally got their day in court against those pesky free-thinking intelligent people they call “climate deniers.”

Big mistake. The overconfident alarmists appear to have bitten off more than they can chew. They i...

The West That Was

Sputnik 1 was launched in October, 1957. I remember exactly where I was when the news story broke on the radio. My friend and I were being driven to a high school football game by his father, an aeronautical engineer at one of the largest manufacturers of helicopter rotor blades in the world. News of Sputnik was so important that he pulled the car to the side of the road so the three of us could listen to the lengthy newscast without distraction.

The following year in 1958, at the height of t...

Elon Musk’s Bankruptcy Joke on Twitter

Nearly 4,000 years ago in the mid 18th century BC, the King of Babylon passed away, leaving the throne to his 18-year old son Hammurabi.

Hammurabi was smart enough to know that his kingship would be incredibly short if he didn’t do something quickly to assert his power.

So as his first order of business, Hammurabi made a bold proclamation that won him incredible support from his people: he forgave ALL citizens’ debt that was owed to the government… including high-ranking government officials....

France Invades Syria (for the US)

So, it looks like we now have another actor getting involved in Syria by putting boots on the ground. On March 29, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to send troops to Manbij in support of the US-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The goal is to block Turkish advances into the region, and this move will be coordinated with the US military. According to the president, the troops will be sent “very quickly.”

This announcement was made during a time of Turkish threats to drive the Kurds out...

Old Cars Were Sometimes Better

New cars have many features old cars never had – LCD touchscreens and WiFi, for instance. But new cars are missing some things, too.

Maybe you remember – and wonder why?

Bumpers that could take a bump –

Until about the early-mid 1990s, most cars still had external bumpers designed to be . . . bumped. They were made of steel and so didn’t easily tear, like today’s plastic bumper covers do – leading to very expensive repairs, usually involving the replacement of the torn bumper cover and then r...

Free Trade or Protectionism?

Little did I know as I was planning, designing, and typesetting my new little book Free Trade or Protectionism? that the official release date I selected would coincide with the launch of President Trump’s trade war.

I shouldn’t have been so surprised since Trump is an economic nationalist who believes that only limited “fair” trade, increased tariffs, and a lower trade deficit will make America great again.

In one of the Republican primary debates, Trump proposed a 45 percent tariff on all i...

Student and Colleague to a Genius

JEFF DEIST: How does a kid from New Jersey get interested in economics, much less decide to get a PhD?

JOE SALERNO: Well, I didn’t really plan it. I think it all began back in fifth grade when my mother’s cousin visited from Italy, and during the course of conversation, he revealed that he was a member of the Italian Communist Party. My father, a New Deal Democrat who had voted for JFK, was also an ardent anti-communist. He got into a big argument with the cousin and then threatened to throw...

How Our Country Was Stolen

Today is Easter, an important Christian holiday. But it is not marked on the calendar that is part of the Apple software that came with my Apple computer lap top. Today is also April Fools day, and that is marked on the Apple-supplied calendar. For Apple’s programmers, April Fools Day trumps Easter.

How can it be that an American company, Apple, can remember to mark on the calendar Cinco de Mayo (May 5), Mexico’s commemoration of a Mexican army victory of the French in the Battle of Puebla in...

Serious Economic Troubles Ahead

The Federal Reserve recently increased interest rates to 1.75 percent. This is the highest interest rates have been since 2008, but it still leaves rates at historic lows. While the Fed says economic growth justifies future rate increases, an honest examination of the economy suggests that future rate increases are unlikely.

The Fed’s claim that the economy is strong is based on misleading government statistics. For example, the official unemployment rate understates true unemployment by not...