Walter E. Block
Lew Rockwell
United States
Contact Walter
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Walter:
Is America at War With Russia?
Suppose that the U.S. were at war with Canada. Don’t laugh; South Park devoted an entire episode to just such a conflagration; if they, with their usual keen insight, could depict such an eventuality, it could indeed actually occur. Also posit that Russia took the side of our neighbor to the north in this altercation. No, Moscow did not declare war on Washington DC, but it did everything else… → Read More
What Mises Understood about Prices and Trade That Socialist Economists Did Not
Socialism is a very popular system. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders attracts thousands of fellow economic innocents on college campuses, and even professional economists of the ilk of Paul Samuelson were taken in by the siren song of this ineffective and evil system. (He predicted in his economics textbook that the USSR would overtake the American economy). There stood Ludwig von Mises, like the… → Read More
Sports DEI
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) has been sweeping the nation. It has been applied to all sorts of institutions, albeit, preeminently, education. It is time, it is past time, that this initiative be spread out, even further. To wit, it should be introduced into the realm of sports. According to DEI, the reason whites do better at earning wealth, educational attainment, employment, more… → Read More
Can Wage Transparency Fix the Pay Gap?
Will wage transparency reduce or eliminate the pay gap between men and women? Yes and no. Let’s take the no side first. Wage transparency will not reduce or eliminate this pay gap because it emanates from real differences in productivity (actually discounted marginal revenue productivity, but we’re going to keep it simple, here). That is to say, there is an economic law that maintains that wages… → Read More
Jews May No Longer Like What the Democrats Are Selling
Although people of the Jewish faith can usually be relied upon to vote that straight party ticket, the Democratic one of course, matters are not so clear this time around. Before we get to that, we have to deal with an objection to even considering this claim that the Democratic Party can no longer place so much reliance on this demographic. Some say that since Jews make up only some 2 percent… → Read More
40,000 Traffic Fatalities a Year Is Not Acceptable. So Why Do We Accept It Year After Year?
US highway authorities are bemoaning the recent increase in highway fatalities. And, well, they should. With an annual death rate of 40,000 per year on our nations’ roads and streets, the situation is—to say the least—highly regrettable. Like good bureaucrats, these folks do not intend to stand idly by and do nothing about this scourge. Instead, they intend to implement a myriad of policies… → Read More
A Jew Awards Five Stars to the Supposedly Anti-Semitic Dave Chappelle
Dave Chappelle is the black Lenny Bruce. I’m sure there are stronger encomiums than that, but right now I can’t think of any. Lenny Bruce is my favorite Jewish comedian, and Dave Chappelle is my most beloved black comic. And this is not because they are all that funny. Oh, yes, they are both way up there on my humor-meter; they are each side splittingly hilarious. Rather, my veneration of them… → Read More
Covid Science 'Deniers'
Suppose experts A claim that theory A is correct, and experts B claim that theory B is correct. We the people, non-specialists, know nothing about A or B. It concerns a field we’re not familiar with. Maybe physics or math or astronomy or global temperature change or virology or some other esoteric field. However, there is one difference between them: the A’s accuse the B’s of being “deniers” (we… → Read More
Some Students Want Me Fired for a Thought Experiment
A large group of students want me fired from my faculty position. The main charge they make against me is that I believe slavery is wrong for the wrong reasons—“because it goes against Libertarianism, not because it is morally wrong.” In truth, I repudiate slavery on both grounds. I even favor reparations, but not from all whites to all blacks. Many whites came to the U.S. long after 1865 and… → Read More
What the Worst Economic Predictions in History Can Teach Us About Economics
Economists predict the future course of economic events to show we have a sense of humor. If we could do so accurately, we’d all be very rich, and we’re not; we’re comfortable, but not fantastically rich (except in our enjoyment of the dismal science). Why can’t we predict the future? Because the world is a complicated place, and millions of things are occurring at once. For example, we know… → Read More
Alleged Repercussions and the Law
Sorry, I’m concocting a new phrase, since I can’t think of one that accurately, easily and in shorthand depicts a phenomenon I want to address. The new phrase is “Leads To-ism.” This is meant to refer to a mode of thinking that is far too powerful and very harmful. It is the view that if X leads to Y, and Y is properly illegal, then not only should Y continue to remain against the law, but so,… → Read More
Non-PC truth: Stereotypes Are Not All Bad
Stereotypes have a bad press, particularly with the progressive wokesters on the left. This mode of expressions is deemed to be insulting and demeaning. And not only that, but stereotypes are also widely thought to be inaccurate, amounting to blatant lies. True, there are always exceptions that appear to belie any given stereotype. But does this mean that stereotypes have no explanatory power at… → Read More
Nuclear War?
The Russians are a weird people. For some reason, known only to their bizarre selves, they object to German invasions of their country. And not only that: they have the inexplicable habit of strenuously opposing another such eventuality. One might well have thought otherwise. After all, the Germans bring with them in their wake all sorts of salutary benefits: law and order, good government,… → Read More
You Should Have To Pay To Drive The North Vancouver 'Cut'
“They” say that the Long Island Expressway near New York City is the longest parking lot in the world — and “they” are never wrong; that’s a given. What is the Canadian equivalent? One candidate is “the Cut,” a stretch of road on Canada Highway #1 in North Vancouver from the Lynn Valley Road down a steep hill to the Second Narrows Bridge, which crosses over into Burnaby and Vancouver. Why is it… → Read More
Privatize Education
In the view of Terry McAuliffe, former Virginia Gubernatorial candidate: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” According to Mary-Michelle Upson Hirschoff, a professor at the Indiana University School of Law, it is not even clear that parents have an unambiguous right to have their children excused from instruction they regard as objectionable. She states: “The… → Read More
Diversity, Equality, Inclusion…Give Me a Break
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) amounts to the complaint that there are too many white males on the faculty and the demand that this be radically changed, forthwith. It would appear, at least to the grievants, that females, “people of color” (“colored people” is no longer allowed to be said at university, despite the continued existence of the National Association of Colored People), and… → Read More
Should We Recognize ‘Hate Crimes’?
On the seventh night of Chanukah last year, Grafton E. Thomas went on a stabbing spree at the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg in Monsey, NY. He wounded five people, one of whom later died from his injuries. The case seems pretty straightforward. If Mr. Thomas committed the crime, he should be found guilty of assault, battery, and perhaps even murder. If he didn’t, he shouldn’t. But the government… → Read More
Try Libertarians’ Souls
According to that old aphorism we owe to Thomas Paine: “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Well, these are the times that try libertarian’s souls too. Here, I do not refer to Covid, to Black Lives Matter, to the riots, to vast unemployment, to the U.S. imperialistic system, etc. Nor, even, to issues on which libertarians disagree: immigration, abortion, voluntary slavery, anarchism,… → Read More
Caveat Emptor, Boeing
Caveat emptor is one the basic building blocks of just law. “Buyer beware” is the lynchpin of commerce. If the seller is responsible for flaws in the product (caveat vendidor), there will be precious few goods or services ever supplied. For who would want to grant any disgruntled consumer open sesame to engage in a lawsuit? This includes products that have “danger” written all over them, at… → Read More
Civil Disobedience
From: Randy Hoheisel Sent: Monday, May 04, 2020 7:16 AM To: Walter Block <wblock@loyno.edu> Subject: RE: Freedom and the Coronavirus Dear Walter, Greetings from Fascist Illinois. People are starting to rebel against the stay-at-home orders of Governor J. B. Pritzker. Three or four law suits against his orders are currently active in the Illinois courts, although I question the utility of… → Read More