Blog Archives

Let’s imagine that the state has gone out of business. Without the state you might ask how there could be fire protection, police protection, national defense, health care for all, mail service, streets, roads and highways, mass urban transit, schools and … More →

“A significant portion of the earth’s population will soon recognize, if they haven’t already done so, that humanity is now faced with a stark choice: Evolve or die.” – Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth “We cannot solve our problems with … More →

“In human affairs that person is ‘right’ who has the might to enforce his point of view on others who have less might. That is what leads to tyranny and wars.” —Andrew J. Galambos Throughout history there has been no absolute … More →

“What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.” —Leviticus The physical sciences are characterized by the search for cause and effect predictability in the operation of non-living phenomena such as stars and planets, heat and light, the … More →

Decline and fall has been the fate of all human societies since the dawn of recorded history. The primary cause is simple: it is the human need for security, which is met with a supply of political coercion. Such coercion causes … More →

 The Consequences of Intellectual Integration  “Isaac Newton was placed by fate at a turning point in the world’s intellectual development.”—Albert Einstein In the lexicon of Andrew Galambos, the word “revolution” is reserved for a single meaning, as are all words … More →

Knowledge The original and primary source of material abundance is knowledge in the form of scientific discovery which leads to technical innovation. Knowledge also promotes physical health and lack of knowledge is the source of sickness and death. For example, … More →

A false alternative occurs when two options are given as the only solutions to a particular situation. In reality there are other, perhaps better, solutions available, but they are not considered. In this chapter, we will consider a few common … More →

Voluntary Exchange In deciding what property to acquire, whether necessities or luxuries, people have to make choices. Their wants are potentially insatiable, but their acquisition capabilities are limited by a finite amount of resources in the form of time, energy, … More →

The authors of the Constitution envisioned the American state as one with extremely limited powers. However, the history of operation of the United States of America acting under its constitutional powers shows that a state endowed with ostensibly limited powers … More →

The Great Depression of the 1930s was an economic calamity that brought disastrous declines in every important metric of economic health – employment, manufacturing output, farm prices, exports, among many others. The depression, and the political state’s laws and regulations … More →

“War is politics carried out by violent means to compel our adversary to submit to our will.”—Carl von Clausewitz The United States has engaged in 11 wars since its founding in 1776. This chapter posits that the U.S. could have completely … More →

The original, and continuing, political justification of anti-monopoly political laws is that monopolies in commerce are harmful to consumers. However, the federal state claims a monopoly of its own — a monopoly of coercion. Business monopolies that do not use coercion … More →

Introduction The subject of prices has engendered a vast economic literature of theory and opinion as well as conflicts of vision about the way society should operate. At the polar opposite ends of this debate are the ideas of economist … More →

Capital, Capital Formation, Capitalism and Capitalistic Societies Capital is property that has been acquired and saved rather than being consumed. Seed corn is an example of capital. A farmer is creating capital who keeps some of the seed from a harvest … More →

The image portrayed of capitalism and capitalists in the media is consistently and overwhelmingly negative. The discussion here is confined to American media. However, there is little reason to believe that a more favorable image of capitalism and capitalists is … More →

The United States of America is a kleptocracy, a country ruled by thieves. The federal and local states finance their operations by stealing. The theft is called taxation. Theft consists in taking the property of another without the owner’s consent. … More →

“Money would be better supplied by competition among private issuers than by the state.” —Arthur Seldon   SYNOPSIS  Money is one of the great inventions of humanity, along with such other developments of human ingenuity as agriculture, art, contract, insurance, language, … More →

Rivers, oceans, lakes, open pastures, fish stocks, forests, wetlands . . . Yosemite, the Amazon jungle, the Great Barrier Reef . . . clean air and even the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes radio waves that enable broadcast communications . . … More →

Credit is based on trust as represented by confidence in the honesty and trustworthiness of another. Credit in the form of trust developed spontaneously among humans engaged in trading with each other from the earliest times in recorded history and … More →

“Insurance is one of the great inventions of all time. It compares in importance with the invention of the wheel.” —Andrew J. Galambos Insurance is one of the most important social institutions ever created by human beings. It is also … More →

In September, 1992, Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Gary Spencer, a member of the Sheriff’s narcotics unit, received information from an undisclosed informant that approximately 3,000 marijuana plants were growing on the 200-acre ranch of Donald P. Scott and his … More →

It is a universal belief that only government can provide national defense. Even libertarian philosophers such as Ludwig von Mises say that explicitly. However, political governments are unable to defend their citizens.  In World War II the principal combatants suffered … More →

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”—Benjamin Franklin Political states without exception have established and maintained monopolies of so-called national defense, often to disastrous effect for the subjects and citizens under their rule. But what would happen … More →

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”—Mark Twain

Lone individuals have the power to accomplish good for humanity, and the power to resist evil. Two individuals known personally to the author of this chapter, Dr. John McDonald and Betty Chinn, exemplify the power of a lone acting individual … More →

INNOVATION—A PRINCIPAL SOURCE OF BETTERMENT OF HUMAN LIFE The general well-being of vast tracts of humanity has substantially improved from the “Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” existence described by the philosopher Thomas Hobbes in the 17th century. Worldwide, life … More →

Because of the use of advancing science and technology to create weapons of mass destruction, war has become a threat to the survival of the human species.  The source of war is not conflict among nations, but is rather the … More →

This book is a description and examination of the ideas presented by Andrew J. Galambos in his original lectures that were entitled “Capitalism: The Liberal Revolution.” When Galambos lectured, he did not disclose that title until the final lecture in … More →