Free trade is simple

November 28, 2005 • by Jordan J. Ballor

Free trade is simple

Latest Posts

November 24, 2005

Impact hunger. Impact poverty.

Join us in overcoming poverty. Acton is starting a new ad campaign which aims to raise awareness of effective ways to overcome poverty and world hunger. We encourage everyone to view our ads and to consider them seriously as they join the rest of the developed world in extending a hand to those in need. Continue Reading...
November 23, 2005

There has to be a better way

The system that administers special education in the United States is one that “parents find unresponsive, and schools find expensive,” writes Jennifer Morse, Acton Senior Fellow in Economics. She takes a look at the implications of a recent Supreme Court ruling and comes up with a solution that involves the dreaded V-word: Vouchers. Continue Reading...
November 23, 2005

“If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidise it.”

Alan Anderson of the Sydney Morning Herald notes that Ronald Reagan’s joke about the Government’s view of the economy has become United Nations policy toward the internet. The Belmont Club blog notes that placing control of the Web into the hands of UN regulators will have far reaching negative consequences: One of the reasons the Internet has been so successful is that it has so far escaped the restraints of Filipino judges, Tunisian government officials and United Nations bureaucrats. Continue Reading...
November 23, 2005

Digital rights fiasco

The newest phase in the fight for digital/intellectual property rights involves the recent Digital Rights Management software from Sony. Apparently, Sony’s “protected” audio CDs have been installing a “rootkit” onto your computer, and opening up your computer to yet more malicious software on the Internet (as if it isn’t bad enough already without a Sony rootkit). Continue Reading...
November 22, 2005

‘Your mind makes it real’

Check out this Marketplace story about real money being spent in the virtual world. The commodities of online gaming have real-world value to people, to the extent that a virtual island can cost upwards of $26,000 in the world of Project Entropia. Continue Reading...
November 21, 2005

Don’t wait for government

This month’s Esquire magazine is the annual “Genius” issue (with Bill Clinton as the coverboy, which might seem strange until you realize that the word “genius” is related to the words “genii” and “jinn,” which in mythology were often negative spiritual beings, “commonly believed to be responsible for diseases and for the manias of some lunatics”). Continue Reading...
November 18, 2005

Bishops against death penalty

The US Bishops have issued a statement calling for an end to the use of the death penalty, part of their larger campaign to end the death penalty. I’m sympathetic to the thrust of the statement and to many of its claims. Continue Reading...