One third of the $15 trillion of mortgages in existence in 2008 are owned, or securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, the Federal Housing and the Veterans Administration. Wall Street buyers of repackaged loans didn't mind buying risky paper because they assumed that they would be guaranteed by the federal government: read bailout from the taxpayers. Today's housing mess can be laid directly at the feet of Congress and the White House.

Universities have failed in their function of the pursuit of academic excellence by having dumbed down classes and granting degrees to students who are just barely literate and computationally incompetent.

The public good is promoted best by people pursuing their own private interests. This bothers some people because they're more concerned with motives than with results.

The global warming scare has provided a field day for politicians and others who wish to control our lives. After all, only the imagination limits the kind of laws and restrictions that can be written in the name of saving the planet.

The difference between a thief and a congressman: When a thief steals your money, he doesn't expect you to thank him.

In a free society, government has the responsibility of protecting us from others, but not from ourselves.

Economic planning is nothing more than the forcible superseding of other people's plans by the powerful elite backed up by the brute force of government.