Liberty Magazine

Brother, Can You Spare a Decade?

May 1, 2009

Perspective – Liberty Magazine – May 2009 Brother, Can You Spare a Decade? by Mark Skousen Few things other than a New Deal can be more painful than an economic depression. But few eras were more vital and enjoyable than the private side of the last one. One of the rare books in my financial [...]

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The Necessary Evil

August 26, 2008

Suggestion – Liberty Magazine The Necessary Evil by Mark Skousen Today libertarians spend most of their time lamenting the consequences of big government. And rightly so. Today government is less a defender of freedom and more a Hobbesian leviathan that undermines prosperity. When we do talk about limited government, it is often seen solely as [...]

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My Friendly Fights with Dr. Friedman

September 25, 2007

The Rational, The Relentless – Liberty Magazine – September 2007 by Mark Skousen “To keep the fish that they carried on long journeys lively and fresh, sea captains used to introduce an eel into the barrel. In the economics profession, Milton Friedman is that eel.”— Paul A. Samuelson Milton Friedman, the intellectual architect of the [...]

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The Art of Letting Go

March 1, 2007

Tranquility Liberty Magazine March 2007 by Mark Skousen “How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book.”— Henry David Thoreau, Walden Would you do me a favor? Find an easy chair, or better yet, go outside to a secluded spot and read this essay at your [...]

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Franklin and His Critics

December 30, 2006

Was Benjamin Franklin an indispensable public servant, or a cunning chameleon? A believer, or a heretic? A hard-headed entrepreneur, or an opportunistic privateer? A devoted family man, or a salacious womanizer? An important scientist and inventor, or a hoaxer and self-promoter? The first civilized American, or the most dangerous man in America? Read the article [...]

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A Year at FEE

February 1, 2003

Liberty February 2003 by Mark Skousen Is the sun setting on the world’s oldest freedom organization? The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is often called “America’s oldest freedom organization.” It predates the Institute for Humane Studies, the Cato Institute, and the Libertarian Party; its monthly magazine The Freeman (now Ideas on Liberty), was published for [...]

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The Troubled Economics of Ayn Rand

January 1, 2001

Published in January, 2001, issue of Liberty Magazine: THE TROUBLED ECONOMICS OF AYN RAND by Mark Skousen “No creator was prompted by a desire to serve his brothers…” –Howard Roark, The Fountainhead (1994:710) Ayn Rand, author of the celebrated Capitalism: The Unknown Idea, is honored almost universally as the fountainhead of market capitalism, an impassioned [...]

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The Other Austrian

October 31, 1999

Discovery LIBERTY Magazine The Other Austrian By Mark Skousen Swashbuckling corporate raiders take heed, here’s another Austrian economist offering advice. Peter F. Drucker once walked into the boardroom of a major company in crisis and bluntly demanded, “Gentlemen, what is your business?” Most of the executives thought it was a sophomoric question, but Drucker kept [...]

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Oscar Shrugged

September 5, 1999

LIBERTY – The First Galt’s Gulch Film Festival Special report from the First International Libertarian Film Festival. By Mark Skousen GALT’S GULCH, COLORADO–What better location for the first libertarian film festival than Atlas Shrugged‘s Atlantis, the hidden valley high in the Rockies to which the world’s most productive individualists repaired when they went on strike? [...]

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No More Political Labels, Please

July 5, 1999

LIBERTY Magazine By Mark Skousen A rose is a rose is a rose. But a conservative is a libertarian is a liberal. When labels confuse rather than clarify, they should be dropped. RESOLVED: That we use political labels as little as possible when describing people’s ideologies. When somebody asks me, “Are you a liberal? Conservative? [...]

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