Noah Stahl
The Latest Diplomatic Tactic: Make-Believe
North Korea has a long history of being a malevolent nation. The communist dictatorship was first placed on the State Department’s list of terrorist-supporting nations in 1987, after it bombed a South Korean jetliner– an attack that followed years of North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens.
But now, North Korea has been granted its most [...]
Blank-and-effect – The economics of pragmatism
In the latest of a series of new government interventions into the economy, President Bush announced a new plan to bail the financial industry out of hundreds of billions of dollars of bad assets. This follows an $85 billion bailout and effective takeover of the nation’s largest insurance company, as well as a several-hundred [...]
The Bankruptcy of the Mixed Economy
Today’s economy faces a long list of problems. We hear daily about high gas prices and inflation, of a battered stock market, of a growing number of people unable to afford their mortgages, even of banks failing and huge companies facing bankruptcy. What explains this predicament?
According to editorials, congressional speeches and opinion polls, the cause [...]
Enforcing ‘Constructive Behavioral Change’
A group of college presidents has sparked debate by signing a petition urging the drinking age be lowered to 18, the legally recognized age of adulthood. They argue that “twenty-one is not working” because it has “not resulted in significant constructive behavioral change among our students.”
Several groups are opposing this campaign, among them Mothers Against [...]
All Plants are Created Equal?
Put down that salad! Have you considered the dignity of the vegetables you’re about to crush into easily-digestible pieces? Have you no concern for their inherent worth as living beings? Have you made sure to carefully justify the moral necessity of harming those plants for your own ends?
Those are the topics recently [...]
Babies: The Newest Environmental Plague
Children may be the next addition to the list of environmental threats. An astonishing article in a British newspaper reveals a new trend among young environmentalist couples: sterilizing themselves in an effort to save the planet. In their own words:
“Every person who is born uses more food, more water, more land, more fossil [...]
In Defense of Corporate America
To say “Corporate America” today is almost to say a dirty word. Corporations are viewed as organizations that systematically abuse consumers, fleece taxpayers, exploit employees, deceive investors, disrupt communities and poison the environment. CEOs and board members are portrayed as faceless men huddled in dark boardrooms, smoking cigars while colluding about how to redirect money into their own pockets. Employees in the corporate world are characterized as hapless drones mindlessly chasing raises and promotions in cramped cubicles. Corporations themselves are often spoken of not as organizations of individuals, but almost as entities with minds of their own.
The Moral Case for Capitalism
It is widely acknowledged that capitalist countries are the most successful at creating wealth and raising their citizens’ overall standard of living. People who live in such countries enjoy access to bigger homes, better-trained doctors, more advanced technology, and higher paying jobs. By contrast, those living under collectivist systems like the European welfare states often endure long waits for poorer quality medical help and have far less choice in the things they buy and less money to buy them with. Studies like the Index of Economic Freedom consistently find that higher measures of economic liberty correlate strongly with better standards of living: the freer people are, the richer they become.
Freedom Versus Security: The False Alternative
What’s more important: freedom or security? Since 9/11, we’ve heard this question in debates over issues ranging from the PATRIOT Act to wiretapping to interrogation techniques.
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Objectivism
The Undercurrent's cultural commentary is based on Ayn Rand's philosophy, Objectivism. Objectivism, which animates Ayn Rand's fiction, is a systematic philosophy of life. It holds that the universe is orderly and comprehensible, that man survives by reason, that his life and happiness comprise his highest moral purpose, and that he flourishes only in a society that protects his individual rights.Event Calendar
