the law of no free lunch: Mises Turns 30

sound money, peace, and freedom are the core principles of classical liberalism.  You don’t get to cherry pick between these principles.  If you compromise on any of the three, you risk getting none of the three.  If you want to maximize some other value, like social justice or income equality for example, you must necessarily compromise on one or more of the 3 core principles of classical liberalism.  That is the law of no free lunches. 

Government promises to ensure peace through war.  It promises to deliver freedom by ensuring social justice via public education, universal health care and welfare.  it promises to deliver sustainable economic growth via the central bank printing press. 

All of these promises are logically contradictory. 

The law of no free lunches is captured well in Ben Franklin's timeless observation that

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.  

Our 30th Birthday

Mises Daily: Thursday, October 04, 2012 by Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.

More than 30 years ago I had lunch with the widow of Ludwig von Mises in her favorite restaurant, the Russian Tea Room in New York. I asked her permission to start an institute dedicated to her husband and his ideas. She gave her enthusiastic blessing.

The next person I asked was Murray Rothbard, who literally clapped his hands in delight. Then I told Ron Paul, who then helped raise the seed money from his own donors. Other great men like F.A. Hayek, Henry Hazlitt, Lawrence Fertig, and Hans Sennholz were fervent supporters. I was surrounded by giants.
Over those 30 years, what fun all of us at the Mises Institute have had. And thanks to our donors and scholars, we have been able to do much good. Through teaching, research, conferences, publishing, and the Internet, we have touched the minds and hearts of millions. As a result, the cause of Austrian economics, sound money, peace, and freedom is far stronger. And how that is needed!

We have taken on the Fed, the welfare state, the warfare state, the power elite, Keynesianism, fascism, and every other excrescence of DC. We do not compromise with the State, nor those who promote it, nor accept a dime from them. As a result, young people all over the world — not to speak of faculty, business leaders, and writers — look to the Mises Institute for uncompromising leadership in this fight.

 

Where Austrian economics was once a dwindling school of thought, now it flourishes here and in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The next generation is ours. On our 30th anniversary, we remember all this, with great gratitude to our benefactors, and we plan for far more success in the years ahead. Won't you help us continue our work? Certainly our ideas have never been more timely.

With your generous tax-deductible donation, you can help build the foundations of liberty for the future. You can help us make sure that we can reach all the good students and young professors who are dedicating their lives to freedom, private property, and free markets. With your help, we are determined to fight and win the intellectual battle. Government cannot defeat ideas, and our ideas are right and so necessary