People should be legally free to argue for any viewpoint, no matter how “obviously” false and even reprehensible, in order to protect society from being enslaved to a popular but untrue belief. ―Robert P. Murphy
Tag: American writers
If landlords can’t charge a market rate, they’ll cut corners to maintain profitability. Because rent controls encourage landlords to reduce their maintenance expenses, apartments in rent controlled areas aren’t painted as often, repairs aren’t made as quickly, graffiti doesn’t get erased as quickly, and the washer/dryers in the basement don’t get replaced when they break down.
Under rent control, there are no market penalties for shoddy service because there is a long line of potential tenants. Thus rent control does not eliminate but rather creates “slumlords” who in a market system would have to compete to attract and retain tenants.
—Robert P. Murphy
If capitalism had never existed, any honest humanitarian should have been struggling to invent it. But when you see men struggling to evade its existence, to misrepresent its nature, and to destroy its last remnants—you may be sure that whatever their motives, love for man is not one of them. —Ayn Rand
If an employer has an opening that pays $50,000 in salary, and the Christian applicant will bring in $51,000 in extra revenue to the firm while the Muslim applicant will bring in $55,000, then to discriminate against the creed of the latter will cost the employer $4,000 in potential profits. Discrimination is automatically “fined” in the free market. — Bob Murphy
One of the big differences between economics and politics is that politicians are not forced to pay attention to future consequences that lie beyond the next election. An elected official whose policies keep the public happy up through election day stands a good chance of being voted another term in office, even if those policies will have ruinous consequences in later years. There is no “present value” to make political decision-makers today take future consequences into account, when those consequences will come after election day. —Thomas Sowell
The worship of the state is the worship of force. —Ludwig von Mises
The prohibition and control of narcotics have only led to even more detrimental consequences than before the state’s involvement. —Derek Wills
Liberty is the right of the individual to invoke sole dominion over their own life to act as they see fit, provided the act in and of itself does not directly infringe on the right of another individual to do the same. —Derek Wills, The Liberty Solution
Many on the political left are so entranced by the beauty of their vision that they cannot see the ugly reality they are creating in the real world. —Thomas Sowell
It is well known that in war, the first casualty is truth — that during any war truth is forsaken for propaganda. —Harry Browne