Vincent Geloso brilliantly explains that America’s economic riches were not, and are not, the product of slavery – quite the opposite. Here’s his conclusion:
It is clear that one cannot infer that America was made richer from the often-used facts about growth and slavery. It is even clearer that America was made poorer by slavery. Slavery leaves a nasty legacy. Its preservation required the use of racist ideological constructs to justify it. These constructs persist today and, since Emancipation, meant that incredible violence was directed towards African-Americans. It bred a class of rent-seekers who continued their rent-extraction efforts in the form of segregation laws and public goods funded by all but whose use was restricted to whites. To these items in the shadow of slavery, we must also add a poorer America.
Bruce Yandle reveals yet another ugly aspect of Trump’s protectionism.
Here’s Alberto Mingardi on Sebastian Mallaby on James Grant on Walter Bagehot.
George Leef wants to bring back to college campuses a great intellectual tradition.
Bryan Caplan distinguishes material from rhetorical dominance.
