Interventionism

These agencies were established to intervene in the rights and liberties of Americans. A good cabinet, writes Bill Anderson, would work itself out of existence.

History frowns upon the belief that government protects children's rights, and yet that is precisely the claim that undergirds child labor laws, now enforced in most parts of the world. Hardly anyone dares question their existence, much less the conventional history of child labor, no matter how many children and families continue to be victimized by government regulation of labor.

Medical Savings Accounts promised market incentives in health insurance. Congress didn't renew them, but Dale Steinreich argues they weren't so great anyway.

Production and price controls, not deregulation, are the cause of the state's energy miseries, writes George Reisman.

If the economy is slowing, argue some economists, the Fed should lower rates and flood the market with credit. Gene Callahan disagrees.

Economists like them, and they serve some useful purposes. But Frank Shostak reminds us that they can't predict the future.

Peter Bauer possesses a rare ability: he can see the obvious. Several philosophers discussed in this issue-Rawls, Dworkin, and Cohen -rail on and on about equality. 

One of the pillars of an interventionist US foreign policy is foreign aid. Since World War II, the United States has dispensed billions of dollars in foreign aid to virtually every country on the planet. Foreign aid was lavished on our friends and our foes during the cold war and a decade after. It is extended to both sides of military conflicts. It is even accorded to countries that regularly vote against the US in the UN. The recipient countries are less likely to reform their economies once they get on the US dole.

The Social Security Commissioner sent out a letter revealing what the system will eventually pay. Gregory Bresiger is not pleased.

For decades, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been renowned as one of Washington's biggest boondoggles. HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros admitted to Congress in June 1993: "HUD has in many cases exacerbated the declining quality of life in America." Vice President Al Gore denounced public housing projects in 1996: "These crime-infested monuments to a failed policy are killing the neighborhoods around them."