The Cost of Free


Recently, I’ve been asked what it is I have against socialism. Readers of the Blue Collar Economist may have noticed a large amount of material focused against this most erroneous of economic ideas. For me, it almost borders on a personal matter. It is true that I had, in my youth, certain socialistic leanings. For…

Please! Spare Me, Enough Already!


Recently, I overheard a discussion from a pair of Bernie Sanders fans about how horrible capitalism is because America allowed child labor in the 19th century, during our Industrial Revolution. These people complained that the “Robber Barons” only achieved their great fortunes because they exploited workers, created monopolies and jacked up prices on goods. Thank…

Markets or Mercantilism


    A few days ago, I had a discussion with a co-worker about the need for the government to regulate “The Market”. Consistently, the definition of terms, most certainly economic terms, leads the discussion to devolve into a debate. Each side arguing past the other as definitions of words or terms are taken for…

Creeping Communism: The Fabian States of America


In the last article we discussed fascism and how it has crept into all segments of the economy. We learned that it had its beginnings in Alexander Hamilton’s “American System” which was not much more than a newer version of British mercantilism. Also, how fascism evolved out of Otto Von Bismarck’s large regulatory state apparatus…

Americans are Starving!


There has never been in the history of this country a time when Americans were dropping dead due to starvation. The only exception would be the Jamestown colony of 1607.  Those that advocate for a socialist solution for the condition of hunger need only to look back through history at this country’s first attempt at…

The Failure of Socialism


In an earlier article, “Economic Ignorance“, we discussed the importance of profits and the incentives to gain those profits. At the end of the article I eluded to the failure of socialism. This article will go into some depth of why socialism is a failure. Flesh and Blood We must first begin with the understanding…

The End of Health Insurance as We Knew It


 The recent SCOTUS decision on Obamacare means the end for the health insurance companies. What a claim! How can I say this? It’s cheaper to pay the annual penalty, now called a tax by SCOTUS, than pay for expensive insurance coverage. The “pre-existing condition” clause means no matter how severely ill someone is, you can…