Joel Poindexter

Joel Poindexter is a student of economics. His writing has been published by the Ludwig von Mises Institute, LewRockwell.com, and the Tenth Amendment Center. He is a contributing author to Voices of Revolution: Americans Speak Out for Ron Paul. Visit his blog.

Zooming In and Out of Serial Season 2

The new season of the podcast Serial is now in its fourth week, telling the story of Bowe Bergdahl’s capture by the Haqqani, his five year imprisonment in Pakistan, and eventual release in a prisoner exchange. But as the host, Sarah Koenig, explains in the first episode, there is so much more to the story. … Continue reading “Zooming In and Out of Serial Season 2”

What Jobs Have To Do With Terrorism

US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf is being mocked and ridiculed by critics in every medium for remarks she made in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews regarding terrorism. She told the host that poor economic conditions are a contributing factor to recruitment for groups such as ISIS, and said “we cannot kill our … Continue reading “What Jobs Have To Do With Terrorism”

The Real Blowback Fallacy

Writing in Foreign Affairs, Christopher Swift attempts to show that cause-and-effect is not a concept applicable to foreign policy in “The Drone Blowback Fallacy.” What he ends up doing only reinforces the idea that a government can’t continue butchering children and not expect the parents to one day retaliate. It should be noted that blowback … Continue reading “The Real Blowback Fallacy”

The Hunger Games as a Metaphor for the Warfare State

Much has been written about The Hunger Games and many of the underlying libertarian themes in that story. Jeffrey Tucker recently described the similarity between the fictional games and voting. Brent Railey noted just the other day the realities of the black market springing up to provide what the state can’t, or won’t, and the futility in relying on … Continue reading “The Hunger Games as a Metaphor for the Warfare State”

Humanitarian Aid Is Military Intervention

The recent YouTube documentary Kony 2012 has become quite a sensation. It has inspired millions of people to demand, in one form or another, that the U.S. military take action in Uganda in order to bring to justice a supposedly ruthless warlord. The fact that numerous wars are being waged already, none of them just, … Continue reading “Humanitarian Aid Is Military Intervention”