Recipients of transfers set a bad example for others, including their children, other relatives, and friends, who see that one can receive… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
To continue on the road we Americans have traveled for the past century is ultimately to deliver ourselves completely into the hands… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
Until the 1930s, the Constitution served as a major constraint on federal economic interventionism. The government's powers were understood to be just… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
The beginning of political wisdom is the realization that despite everything you’ve always been taught, the government is not really on your… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
For members of the political class, the crucial question is always: how can we push out the frontier, how can we augment… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
But politicians who talk about failed policies are just blowing smoke. Government policies succeed in doing exactly what they are supposed to… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
“The government enforces a monopoly over the production and distribution of its alleged 'services' and brings violence to bear against would-be competitors.… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
The legacy of the New Del was, more than anything else, a matter of ideological change. Henceforth, nearly everyone would look to… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
Voting, the be all and end all of modern democratic politicians, has become a farce, if indeed it was ever anything else.… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
Government spending either is completely wasteful, merely transfers income, purchases an intermediate rather than a final good, or purchases valuable final services… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
Who can dispute that the governments of the United States constitute the most voracious tax system in the history of mankind? In… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
In the transfer society, the general public is not only poorer but also less contented, less autonomous, more rancorous, and more politicized.… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
True counselors of despair are those who hope against hope—and historical experience—that the government can and will act constructively. — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
If you have a private firm and you spend a ton of money to pay employees, but what you produce is a… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
Some doomsayers think the collapse will be triggered by runaway government spending, excessive taxation, oppressive regulation, food shortages, fuel shortages or natural… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
If I had to use a single word to describe what is fundamentally wrong with government today, I would use the word… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
Ironically, in the full-fledged transfer society, where governments busy themselves redistributing income by means of hundreds of distinct programs, hardly anyone is… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
“People and their values are almost infinitely diverse, and people will never agree on many elements of social arrangements that might be… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
“Like all who inherit the Lockean tradition, Mises believed that a strong but limited government, far from suffocating its citizens, allows them… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
H. L. Mencken famously said that 'every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.' By now, however, I am… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
Recipients of transfers tend to become less self-reliant and more dependent on government payments. When people can get support without exercising their… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
Recipients of transfers set a bad example for others, including their children, other relatives, and friends, who see that one can receive goods, services,… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
In debates between anarchists and statists, the burden of proof clearly should rest on those who place their trust in the state. Anarchy's mayhem… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
“Anarchists did not try to carry out genocide against the Armenians in Turkey; they did not deliberately starve millions of Ukrainians; they did not… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
We need to have a modicum of faith in people's common sense, creativity and will to survive and prosper even in the face of… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
To continue on the road we Americans have traveled for the past century is ultimately to deliver ourselves completely into the hands of an… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
Inflation is not a benign element in the economy's operation. It is, as it has always been, the most dangerous and destructive form of… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
Until the 1930s, the Constitution served as a major constraint on federal economic interventionism. The government's powers were understood to be just as the… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
No doubt, anarchy, once established, might not last forever. But if your house is on fire, the sensible course of action is to put… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
By adopting programs to distribute substantial amounts of income, a nation guarantees that its government will become more powerful and invasive in other ways. — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
All nonstate threats to life, liberty, and property appear to be relatively petty and therefore can be dealt with. Only states can pose truly… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
This is the true lesson of our history: war, preparation for war, and foreign military interventions have served for the most part not to… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image
Liberty in the United States will never be reestablished so long as elites and masses alike look to the president to perform supernatural feats… — Robert Higgs Copy Share Image