By now, I think I’ve made my point that private property institutions violate self-ownership, negative liberty, and the non-aggression principle. Although your everyday amateur libertarian will continue to believe, beyond all reason, that their preferred institutions are justified by these concepts, many of the smarter libertarians have already given up that line. Here, I address… Continue reading Property and Conflict
Author: Matt Bruenig
Imagine people did things they already do
I was struck by how comically bad this Josh Barro piece is today. Let’s count the ways. Imagine if we bought food the way we buy housing. Instead of buying the food you need right now, you would buy a contract giving you rights to a stream of food in perpetuity. Say, a contract entitling… Continue reading Imagine people did things they already do
Rich Parents Planned This
Returning to the Megan McArdle saga, I want to make a point about intergenerational class entrenchment that does not really come out of the other posts so far. So here goes. One of the interesting things about conservatives is that they seem to often sympathize with poor children in this country, but clearly have little… Continue reading Rich Parents Planned This
The McArdle Paragraph
Twitter got real fired up today about a post I made last week. In it, I attacked a Megan McArdle piece in which she argues that providing poor people more resources would not solve the pain they experience from relationships and status and (some of them) being out of work and so on. My point… Continue reading The McArdle Paragraph
College Cost Trends From 1999-2012
The National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey (NPSAS) is out with fresh college cost data, which the College Board has neatly summarized. This data is released every four years and is the best source out there for really finding out what college costs actual students. In what follows, I detail the cost data from the 1999-2000 year… Continue reading College Cost Trends From 1999-2012