The Naval War College, based in Newport, Rhode Island, runs a special 11-month course for foreign Navy officers. On February 3, the Naval War College held a special morning session at the Hoover Institution, where I am a research fellow. I was invited to speak. The best invites, in my experience, are those for which …
Continue reading “An Economist’s Case for a Non-Interventionist Foreign Policy”
Last week, something exciting happened in U.S. politics. It was exciting in itself, and even if nothing else had come of it, it still would have been exciting. But what made it even more exciting is what followed – the reaction to this event that various people at various parts of the political spectrum had. …
Continue reading “Rand’s Stand”
On Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012, I gave a talk at the Rotary Club of Monterey. I’ve spoken there two or three times in the past, always with a good response, but always on economic issues. This time I decided to push the envelope by making my case that the Iranian government, while it is a …
Continue reading “Is Iran a Threat?”
David Henderson appeared on John Stossel’s show on the Fox Business channel January 19, 2012. He debated regular Fox contributor Colonel David Hunt on “war, Ron Paul’s foreign policy views, Israel, 9/11, and Iran.” Watch the clip: Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com
There’s no doubt that antiwar activism among the left has declined substantially since Barack Obama became president. That has led many people to claim that the apparent antiwar views of many on the left were not so much antiwar as anti-Bush. I’m sure that there’s something to that, but there’s also a more nuanced explanation. …
Continue reading “The Left’s Antiwar Movement in Monterey: Down but Not Out”
David R. Henderson’s Introduction: The first part of this article’s title is absurd, right? How could the head of the CIA, a man who sends drones to kill alleged terrorists and ends up killing not only terrorists, but also many innocent people, be a saint? Well, you probably don’t live in the Monterey area. I …
Continue reading “Is Leon Panetta a Saint—or a War Criminal?”
Introduction In 1945, the flagship journal of the American Economic Review published one of the ten most important economics articles of the 20th century. Entitled “The Use of Knowledge in Society,” it was written by an Austrian economist named Friedrich Hayek. I deal with this article in every economics course I teach. (For the notes …
Continue reading “Adm. Mullen’s Spinning vs. Prof. Hayek’s Insight”
On Friday, Oct. 16, 1970, I woke up at about 7:00 a.m. and turned on the radio. At the time, I was living in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The news I heard shocked me. In the middle of the night, Canada’s Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had invoked the War Measures Act. What was that? I had never …
Continue reading “Trudeau’s War Measures Act: A Reminiscence”
“How can we humanize people in the Middle East and not humanize people in our own country?” That was a wise question in the midst of a speech full of wisdom from former Army captain and West Point graduate Paul Chappell. He gave the speech at a Sept. 5 event sponsored by the Peace Coalition …
Continue reading “An Afternoon With Paul Chappell”
In the 1990s, I was a fan of economic humorist P.J. O’Rourke. One of his best books is Eat the Rich, which I described in a Fortune book review as an “Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations with a laugh on every page.” And if you think O’Rourke’s understanding of the actual Wealth of Nations is …
Continue reading “P.J. O’Rourke’s Progress”