Property and the Social Order | Hans-Hermann Hoppe

Archived from the live Mises.tv broadcast, this lecture by Hans-Hermann Hoppe was presented at the 2011 Mises University in Auburn, Alabama.

Property and the Social Order | Hans-Hermann Hoppe, posted with vodpod

Streets of Dreams: Challenging Atlanta’s Street Vending Monopoly

For generations, street vending has been a classic way to succeed with only a strong work ethic and a desire to succeed. It is a path that cities should encourage, particularly in these tough economic times. But rather than fostering entrepreneurship and opportunity, Atlanta is doing its best to smother it.

Larry Miller and Stanley Hambrick own two well-known vending businesses outside the Atlanta Braves stadium. Their businesses create jobs, offer inexpensive snacks and souvenirs to visitors, and make the sidewalks safer by keeping an eye out for fans who need help. But two years ago, Atlanta handed over all public-property vending to a single company—the first program of its kind in the country. Now that company wants to throw Larry and Stanley out of the spots they have worked for decades to build kiosks that rent for almost $20,000 a year. If it does so, Larry and Stanley’s businesses will be destroyed.

Unfortunately, many American cities put up roadblocks that keep would-be vendors from climbing that ladder. In Streets of Dreams, the Institute for Justice reviewed vending laws in America’s 50 largest cities. It found that of those 50 cities, 45 have one or more anticompetitive restrictions on vending. Atlanta has some of the most onerous burdens in the country, and the monopoly Atlanta has created has cost vendors their jobs and threatens to kill vending as a way for ordinary Atlantans to succeed.

To protect the economic liberty of all Georgians, Larry and Stanley have joined with the Institute for Justice to challenge Atlanta’s vending monopoly. This lawsuit, filed on July 28, 2011 in the Superior Court for Fulton County, Georgia, is the second case in the Institute’s National Street Vending Initiative. It argues that Atlanta lacks the power to grant an exclusive vending franchise and that its actions violate the Georgia constitution. A victory will not only free Atlanta’s vending community; it will make other cities think twice before entering into similarly anti-competitive arrangements.

Streets of Dreams: Challenging Atlanta’s Street…, posted with vodpod

The Science of Human Action | Hans-Hermann Hoppe

Mises U is broadcast live on MisesTV and MisesTV2:
http://www.ustream.tv/user/mises/shows

Hans-Hermann Hoppe presents the opening lecture of the 2011 Mises University. Includes an introduction by Mark Thornton.

The Science of Human Action | Hans-Hermann Hoppe, posted with vodpod

Selling Liberty: National Delusions and the Madness of Crowds | Yuri N. Maltsev

Presented by Yuri Maltsev at the Mises Circle in Chicago: “Strategies for Changing Minds Toward Liberty,” on 9 April 2011. Sponsored by Dr. Don Stacy.

Selling Liberty: National Delusions and the Mad…, posted with vodpod

Limo Drivers Fight Nashville’s Wesley Mouch

Yeah, you know, that Ayn Rand was a nut, huh? That Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog rule doesn’t happen in real life. And government doesn’t partner with favored businesses in “trade associations” to destroy competition and innovation. All that Atlas Shrugged nonsense is, like, totally unrealistic.

Until 2010, sedan and independent limo services were an affordable alternative to taxicabs. A trip to the airport only cost $25. But in June 2010, the Metropolitan County Council passed a series of anti-competitive regulations requested by the Tennessee Livery Association-a trade group formed by expensive limousine companies. These regulations force sedan and independent limo companies to increase their fares to $45 minimum.

The regulations also prohibit limo and sedan companies from using leased vehicles, require them to dispatch only from their place of business, require them to wait a minimum of 15 minutes before picking up a customer and forbid them from parking or waiting for customers at hotels or bars. And, in January 2012, companies will have to take all vehicles off the road if they are more than seven years old for a sedan or SUV or more than ten years old for a limousine.

These regulations have nothing to do with public safety. Nashville could have limited its requirements to those regulations that are designed to genuinely protect the public’s health and safety, such as requiring insured and inspected vehicles, and driver background checks, but instead, Nashville is stooping to economic protectionism to put affordable car services out of business in favor of more expensive services that happen to have more political power. Many Nashville residents who regularly use limos and sedans will be forced to spend twice as much money for exactly the same service and hard-working sedan drivers will be driven out of business.

On April 20, 2011, the Institute for Justice teamed up with three Nashville entrepreneurs and filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee to vindicate the right of Nashville’s limo and sedan operators to earn an honest living free from excessive government regulation.

Limo Drivers Fight Nashville’s Wesley Mouch, posted with vodpod

Austro-Libertarianism as a Starfish

The Ludwig von Mises Memorial Lecture, presented by Helio Beltrão, founder and president of Instituto Mises Brasil. Recorded 10 March 2011 at the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.

Austro-Libertarianism as a Starfish | Helio Bel…, posted with vodpod

A Recipe for the Next Great Depression

Presented by Thomas DiLorenzo at “The Great Depression: What We Can Learn From It Today,” the Mises Circle in Colorado; sponsored by Limited Government Forum of Colorado Springs and hosted by the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Recorded Saturday, 4 April 2009.

A Recipe for the Next Great Depression, posted with vodpod

“The Man” vs. Food KTSM NBC 9

IJ’s Matt Miller launches it’s challenge of El Paso’s unconstitutional mobile vending prohibition that prevents food trucks from operating within 1000 of bri…IJ’s Matt Miller launches it’s challenge of El Paso’s unconstitutional mobile vending prohibition that prevents food trucks from operating within 1000 of brick-and-mortar competition.

“The Man” vs. Food KTSM NBC 9, posted with vodpod

Best Books Criticizing Keynesian Economics

Presented by David Gordon at “The Failure of the Keynesian State,” the Mises Circle in Houston, sponsored by Jeremy S. Davis. Recorded Saturday, 23 January 2010. Includes introductory remarks by Mises Institute president Douglas E. French.

Best Books Criticizing Keynesian Economics | Da…, posted with vodpod

Currency Failures from Argentina to Zimbabwe: A Brief History of Inflation

Presented by Timothy Terrell at the Mises Circle at Furman University: “The Coming Currency Crisis and the Downfall of the Dollar,” 13 November 2010.

Currency Failures from Argentina to Zimbabwe: A…, posted with vodpod