The Freeman: Historical Reputations
11/20/2008
In an election year it is useful to try to remove oneself from the hubbub of daily campaign news and advertisements and to imagine how the candidates will be viewed by historians. This is not a simple exercise, and the attempt will reveal a number of widespread attitudes that affect our view of both past and present, as well as our thinking about many issues of policy. One reason this effort is difficult is that the retrospective view we have of historical figures is not fixed. They shift with time, as increasing chronological distance brings greater perspective and as current issues and debates lead to reassessments of past figures. One result is that people who were once thought of as prominent figures can sink into obscurity. Less commonly the reverse happens, and individuals who have languished in obscurity suddenly rise to retrospective prominence. More . . .
—A NEW article by Stephen Davies
Detroit Rescue Not in the Cards This Year
11/20/2008
"The chief executives of Detroit’s Big Three automakers departed Washington empty-handed on Wednesday night after two days of pleading for a financial lifeline on Capitol Hill." (New York Times, Thursday)Good sense hits Washington.
FEE Timely Classic
"The Myth of Japanese Industrial Policy" by C. Brandon Crocker
Fed Projects Deep Recession
11/20/2008
"Businesses cut prices at a record rate and builders started fewer new homes last month than anytime on record, according to new government data, as the outlook for the economy continues to dim. The data helped spur another terrible day for the stock market, as did a projection of more hard times ahead by leaders of the Federal Reserve. A serious recession now appears all but assured." (Washington Post, Thursday)The price of government intervention.
FEE Timely Classic
"Keynesian Budgets Threaten Recovery" by Hans F. Sennholz
From the President
NEVER give up!
by Lawrence W. Reed, President
11/05/2008
For all of us who believe in liberty, yesterday’s ballot offerings all over the country were hardly inspiring. Predictably, the results this morning may be more than a little dispiriting. Just in case you might be feeling somewhat “down” at the moment, let me offer what I hope will be some cheerful thoughts.
New Online Publications
The Myth of the Robber Barons, Notes From FEE
by Burton W. Folsom, Jr.
9/16/2008
In the ongoing war of ideas in American history, those who advocate government action as an engine of economic development have been encouraged by a general and all-too-human tendency to avoid thinking deeply. Because we have a long history of government intervention in the economy, the assumption—both among those who design government programs and among the constituencies that support them—has usually been that government action accomplishes its objectives. Even people who have reservations about bureaucratic inefficiency reason that we wouldn't have turned to government so many times in the past if government hadn't accomplished something.
The Law
by Frederic Bastiat
9/15/2008
The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it!The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!
If this is true, it is a serious fact, and moral duty requires me to call the attention of my fellow-citizens to it.
Frederic Bastiat: Ideas and Influence
by Dean Russell
9/11/2008
The purpose of this book is fourfold. First, it is the biography of Frederic Bastiat, 1801–1850, the political economist and legislator who led the various campaigns for free trade (and against socialism) in France from 1845 to 1850. The background, philosophy, and career of Bastiat will be examined in considerable detail. This will automatically include the story of the free trade movement in France from 1845 to 1860 and how it was inspired by the more successful one in Great Britain.
—from the author's preface
From the Archives
Hazlitt Receives an Invitation from Walter Cronkite.
10/30/2008
Walter Cronkite invites Hazlitt to a dinner in honor of newscaster Lowell Thomas. The follow-up letter after Hazlitt’s acceptance and donation can be read here.
Dwight D. Eisenhower writes to Henry Hazlitt
10/23/2008
A Letter from Ayn Rand to Leonard Read
10/16/2008
In this letter to Read, Ayn Rand gives her critique of the intellectuals of the time. She also includes her own mission for FEE!
Henry Hazlitt Describes From Bretton Woods to World Inflation
10/09/2008
Henry Hazlitt, author of From Bretton Woods to World Inflation, describes the ideas behind his book. He gives his own thoughts on what the work is supposed to show and why it was written.
Theodore Roosevelt Writes to Henry Hazlitt
10/02/2008
Ayn Rand's Anthem (pdf)
9/25/2008
This week's From the Archives presents correspondence from Ayn Rand to FEE founder Leonard Read. In this letter from Rand to Read, she discusses her ideas for bringing Anthem into publication in the U.S.
Champion of Freedom: Ronald Ketcham
by Joseph Onorati
9/23/2008
As an intern working in the archives of FEE, I have come across many interesting pieces of correspondence between the founder and first president of the Foundation, Leonard Read, and famous politicians, businessmen, and advocates of the free market. The big names stand out among these letters: F. A. Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, Ayn Rand, and so forth. They reviewed each other's books, commented on articles, forwarded interesting newspaper clippings, and shared ideas about how to argue for the free market. Some other less-known individuals that worked with FEE also shine as excellent and powerful advocates of liberty.
Henry Hazlitt Reviews F. A. Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty
Correspondence Between Henry Hazlitt and F. A. Hayek
9/18/2008
In this correspondence between F. A. Hayek and Henry Hazlitt, Hayek thanks Hazlitt for reviewing his book, The Constitution of Liberty. The letters contain a brief argument between the two on the issue of the gold standard. The FEE archives have provided not only the correspondence, but also the original review found in Newsweek.
Unpublished Chapter from Hazlitt's Foundations of Morality
9/11/2008
The omitted chapter of Henry Hazlitt's Foundations of Morality posits the question: Is Ethics a Science? In the introduction to his book, Hazlitt briefly comments on the question of whether or not ethics can be deemed a science. This chapter, dropped from the official publication, attempts to provide a more in depth answer as to how to classify the study of ethics.
In the section “Ethics as Wisdom in Conduct,” Hazlitt argues that a focus on the long run is necessary for “moral wisdom” and “moral action”. Is an action that simultaneously benefits you and others in society a moral one? What is wise and moral action? These questions are taken up by Hazlitt in these unpublished pages.
Character: A FEE Tradition
by Thomas Duncan, Research Fellow
9/11/2008
Recently at FEE, there has been much talk of the importance of character as it pertains to spreading the philosophy of freedom. In the July/August 2008 issue of The Freeman, Lawrence Reed stated, “. . . character is ultimately more important than all the college degrees, public offices or even all the knowledge that one might accumulate in a lifetime.”
The Foundation for Economic Education—FEE—is a voice for individual liberty and responsibility, private property, free markets, constitutionally limited government and the rule of law.
