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Citing Ilya Somin, one of my GMU colleagues from over in the law school, George Will explains that Barack Obama is violating his oath to uphold the Constitution.  (To be fair, all presidents since Grover Cleveland – and many before him – have done so.)

Sandy Ikeda writes about the causes of rising wages (which emphatically do not include labor unions, minimum-wage mandates, or tariffs).  A slice:

The historical trend in per-capita real income since the year 1800 has been unambiguous. Per-capita real income around the world has been rising at an accelerating rate, which coincides with the spread of and respect for free-market ideas and practices. Deirdre McCloskey refers to this phenomenon as the “hockey stick” of economic growth.

Writing in the Fraser Book Review, Philip Cross explains why he’s unimpressed with Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century.

No one – and I do mean no one – writes with more insight and knowledge about the bizarre mindlessness of locavorism and similar food fads than does Pierre Desrochers.  Here’s a slice from Pierre’s most-recent essay:

Unfortunately, for many of our remote ancestors, the absence of effective transportation, such as railroads and container ships, meant that they had no choice but to survive on a local diet and, in the process, put all their agricultural eggs into one geographical basket. This was always a recipe for disaster. The Roman poet Virgil in his Georgics described how, in bad years, weeds invaded the land, voles and mice spoiled the threshing floor, cranes and geese attacked the crops, goats ate the young vines, and moles, toads and ants each feasted on or undermined the farmer’s work. (Virgil could also have discussed fungus, insect pests and other problems.) Of course, whatever survived these pests could be damaged or wiped out by summer droughts and winter windstorms, as well as snow, hail or heavy rain. Even in good years, Virgil observed, a field might be accidentally set on fire.

Here’s wisdom about voluntary exchange from Gary Galles.

Mark Perry – with help from Warren Meyer – contributes important insights to the debate on the alleged merits of minimum-wage legislation.

Here’s the great Wendy McElroy at her Schumpeterian best!

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