Author: Walter E. Block

My Difficulties With the Loyola University Maroon Student Newspaper: Controversy Over Affirmative Action and Abortion Previously, I sent this article to be published by the Maroon. It was rejected on the ground it was “offensive.” Block, Walter E. 2018. “Teachers Who Look Like Me?” March 6; See here also. So, instead, I published this on LewRockwell.com. Do you think it offensive? More recently, I asked the editors of the Maroon to publish the essay below. It was rejected on the basis of its lack of clarity. Here is their letter of rejection: “Thank you for submitting your letter to the … Continue reading →

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I recently heard a young black male student give thanks to the fact that at my school, Loyola University New Orleans, for the first time in his academic career, he has had teachers who “look like him.” He meant that at our university, finally, there are African American professors. He was very grateful for that fact. This young man is in grave error, and the present essay is an attempt to correct him. I have a brown belt in Shoto-Kan Karate. Virtually none of my senseis (teachers) look like me. Well, yes, they all had heads, feet, arms, heads, and, … Continue reading →

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May 12, 2017 Prof. David Neumark Economics Department University of California Irvine, CA dneumark@uci.edu Dear Prof. Neumark: I have long been an adamant and bitter opponent of the minimum wage law, and a long-time admirer of your work on this pernicious legislation, see below for some few of your contributions to the literature debunking its false claims. So, when I heard you were lecturing on the subject of poverty at next door Tulane University last week, I begot myself over there and listened to your lecture. Please allow me to offer you some constructive criticisms of your presentation. You listed … Continue reading →

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Dear President Trump: I am a co-founder of the group Libertarians for Trump. We started that organization in order to help you get elected. We garnered somewhere in the neighborhood of 5000 signatories in your behalf.  How did I justify engaging in this initiative, given that Gary Johnson was also running for president, on the ticket of the Libertarian Party? I advised people living in red states such as Texas, or blue ones for example California, to vote for him, not you, on the ground that you didn’t need these ballots. You would win big without libertarian support in the … Continue reading →

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If I were President of the United States, or, more realistically, if Ron or Rand Paul were, and they appointed me Secretary of Defense, or Secretary of State, this is how I would deal with Kim Jong-un and the North Korean situation. First, realize that Un’s theatrics are, from his own point of view, perfectly rational. He is not stupid. He looks at what happened to Muammar Gaddafi of Libya; murdered by mobs after kow-towing to the Great Satan. He notes the demise of Saddam Hussain of Iraq, another country that got on the wrong side of our imperialist nation; … Continue reading →

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Saul Levmore and Martha Nussbaum, two professors at the University of Chicago Law School, have written an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Let’s Agree on an Age to Retire; Current antidiscrimination law hurts businesses and both younger and older employees” (September 23-24, 2017, p. C4;). These two professors should be ashamed of themselves for writing this bit of economic illiteracy. The University of Chicago Law School, which prides itself on its economic sophistication, should immediately fire them for violating that characteristic. And the Wall Street Journal, which also claims some economic sophistication, and, sometimes even achieves it, should greatly regret publishing this contribution to economic … Continue reading →

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Bret Stephens, who wrote “Hurricanes, Climate and the Capitalist Offset” for the New York Times, is an economic ignoramus. He opines: “Climate activists often claim that unchecked economic growth and the things that go with are principal causes of environmental destruction. In reality, growth is the great offset. It’s a big part of the reason why, despite our warming planet, mortality rates from storms have declined… Death rates from other natural disasters such as floods and droughts have fallen by … staggering percentages over the last century. “That’s because economic growth isn’t just a matter of parking lots paving over paradise. … Continue reading →

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In the aftermath of the brou-ha-ha in Charlottesville, Donald Trump gave three reactions. First, he condemned all sides for the violence. But, he was met with such a screech of reaction from the main-stream media for his “moral equivalence,” that in his second go around, he pretty much, although not exactly, singled out the alt-right for special condemnation. But in his third time at bat, he reversed field (sorry for mingling football and baseball metaphors, I just couldn’t help myself) and again returned to a more even-handed stance, censuring both sides and all “extremists.” What are we to make of … Continue reading →

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What are blind spots? They are lacunae in the minds of excellent analysts.  My stock in trade is political economics, so I will confine myself to that small area of intellectual endeavor. In order to have a blind spot, one has to be really first-rate.  The lack of knowledge of most people I will not characterize as a blind spot, since they have blind spots all over the place. No, a blind spot, at least the way I am defining the term, can only apply to those who are really exceptional in one or more areas of political economy, but … Continue reading →

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The neo-cons in Canada are all a-twitter that their government is going to give Omar Khadr some $10 million in damages in payment for the suffering he underwent as a Guantanamo Bay prisoner. The then 15 year old boy was sent by his father from Canada to Afghanistan to fight against an invading U.S. army; while there, he threw a grenade which killed a U.S. soldier. According to a petition I was asked to sign written by a Canadian taxpayer group: “… giving Khadr $10 million of taxpayer money is a slap in the face to the families of Canadian … Continue reading →

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Let us go out on a limb and posit that World War III, with nuclear exchanges between the U.S. and Russia, would not be a very good thing.  I know, I know, the accusations will come thick and fast that in saying this I am in the pay of a certain foreign power, that I am not a Patriot, that I hate America. Ordinarily, that prospect would suffice to prevent me from writing about the present threat of war – I do so hate conflict – but I also have children and grandchildren, and many other loved ones, and I … Continue reading →

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In 2012 I published this book: Block, Walter E. 2012. Yes to Ron Paul and Liberty. New York: Ishi Press; It was, in effect my love letter to Ron Paul, who, of course, I revere. As is usual in publications of this sort, I searched around for people to write a forward to the book. As is typical on occasions of this sort, my first thought was to ask a famous person to make this contribution. I wanted to maximize the publicity for this book. I was thinking of the usual suspects: Ron Paul himself, Lew Rockwell, Andrew Napolitano, Hans … Continue reading →

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As one of the leaders of the libertarian movement, I am exceedingly grateful to the Holy Father Pope Francis for his recent criticism of libertarianism. He does so in this “Message from the Holy Father to the participants in the Plenary Session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences” (28 April – 2 May 2017). The full text of his important remarks is available here. Why so? According to one of the hoary insights of marketing, “there ain’t no such thing as bad publicity.” We libertarians are the Rodney Dangerfields of political economy. We simply “can’t get no respect.” Virtually … Continue reading →

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Although I do not often agree with Dennis Prager, I must acknowledge that this short essay of his is excellent. Its title is: “Why Do People Still Donate to Universities?” And his answer, if I can put words in his mouth, is, “Don’t do it, if you love our country.” He concludes his note with this statement: “But if you love America, among the worst things you can do is contribute to 95 percent of the country’s universities. America would better off if you burned that money.” I heartily concur with him on this. As a person who has spent … Continue reading →

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Despite all the other things in the news (U.S. race riots, Brexit, Donald versus Hillary versus Gary, new Prime Minister of England), China has also managed to squeeze its way onto the headlines. What have our friends in the Orient been up to lately? They have been creating several new islands in the South China Sea, and, pretty much claiming that this entitles them to almost complete control of that large patch of the Pacific. The present paper is dedicated to an attempt to shed libertarian light on these occurrences. What, exactly has the People’s Republic been doing? They land … Continue reading →

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