The United States has a long history of population growth and concomitant labor force growth. As the chart below shows, the number of men in the civilian labor force (men either working in paid employment or actively seeking work) increased fairly steadily over the past half-century—at least, until the onset of the current recession.

For the past five years, however, the number of men in the labor force has fluctuated around a fairly level trend line at approximately 82 million. This cessation of growth came on the heels of a 6-million-man increase during the previous seven years.

In the post-World War II era, the number of women in labor force grew even faster than the number of men, and also tended to grow fairly steadily. When the current recession began, the female labor force continued to grow, increasing by about a million women between the officially designated beginning and end of the recession (December 2007 - June 2009). In the second half of 2009, however, this grow stopped, and a slight reversal occurred, putting the total on a lower, fairly level trend line throughout 2010 and 2011, albeit still at a higher level than the female labor force had reached before the recession began.

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Around 1830 the argument about American slavery profoundly changed. It went from one where those supporting it defended the institution by saying it was a necessary evil to one where those advocating it claimed it was a positive good. Events such as writings of William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, petitions to Congress calling for its end, the Virginia legislature’s very narrow decision to retain it, and Nat Turner’s rebellion made it impossible to continue sustaining the latter viewpoint. The necessary part was always unconvincing because the food and textiles produced by slaves were always going to be made but the real question was who would get the benefit from them. Articles in periodicals such as The Southern Planter, The Southern Agriculturist, and The Tennessee Farmer, compiled in a book by historian James O. Breeden Advice Among Masters: The Ideal in Slave Management In the Old South, clearly answer the inquiry, no matter what the topic communal eating, type of clothing, work off the plantation, recreation allowed, medical care, or any other one you could think of there were often disagreements on strategy but the advice was always the same, do whatever is best for the master and his or her bottom line. The notion that the system was good for the slaves because kept them in line and prevented them from harming themselves was rubbish and this is the very same idea that is being made of support of government today. This video clip of John...

Four days ago was the 70th anniversary of President Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the internment in "War Relocation Camps" (aka concentration camps) of some 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast.

Two years later the U.S. Supreme Court, in Korematsu v. United States, upheld the order, 6-3. In the majority were the noted civil libertarians and FDR appointees Hugo Black, who wrote the opinion, William O. Douglas, and Felix Frankfurter. The other three were also appointed by Roosevelt. Dissenting were Owen J. Roberts (Hoover appointee), Robert Jackson (FDR appointee), and Frank Murphy (FDR appointee).

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The Libertarian Futurist Society has chosen four finalists for this 
year's Hall of Fame Award. The Award will be presented at the 70th World 
Science Fiction Convention, to be held in Chicago over Labor Day weekend.

The nominees are as follows:

Falling Free, a novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, first published in 1988. 
An exploration of the legal and ethical implications of human genetic 
engineering.

"'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman," by Harlan Ellison, first 
published in 1965. A satirical dystopia set in an authoritarian society 
dedicated to punctuality, where a lone absurdist rebel attempts to 
disrupt everyone else's schedules.

"The Machine Stops,” by E.M. Forster, first published in 1909. Described 
by the author as a reaction to H.G. Wells's fiction, it portrays a 
decaying future of human beings incapable of independent existence or 
first-hand contact.

"As Easy as A.B.C.," a short story by Rudyard Kipling, first published 
in 1912. An ambiguously utopian future that has reacted against the mass 
society that was beginning to emerge when it was written, in favor of 
privacy and freedom of movement.

The winner will be chosen by ranked choices voting by the members of the 
Libertarian Futurist Society.

First awarded in 1983 to Robert Heinlein's ...

“The Upside of Government Default,” where I discuss the state defaults of the 1840s.

Rachel Maddow is using her nightly MSNBC show to agitate for a ticker-tape parade in New York City to honor the Iraq veterans and celebrate the end of the war in that country.

What could be more ridiculous? Has she forgotten that the invasion, war, and occupation – which laid waste to Iraq, killed over a million people, unleashed sectarian violence/cleansing, and created four million refugees – was against a country that had never threatened Americans and was based on bald-faced lies about weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein’s connection to al Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks?

What’s to celebrate? Victory? There is nothing that could be described as victory. The invasion and aggressive war guaranteed certain disgrace for the United States. But even in conventional terms, there was no victory. An authoritarian and corrupt government was left in charge -- a government that is close to Iran, which is demagogically portrayed as America’s (and Israel’s) mortal enemy. (I have no problem with the Iraq’s affinity for Iran, but America’s ruling elite can’t be thrilled about it.) The refugees have not returned to their homes. Half of them left the country. The place is a shambles.

Again, what’s to celebrate?

It will be said that, politics aside, the troops made sacrifices that should be honored. Nonsense. First, they made no sacrifices for “the country.” The country didn’t “call.” They might have thought that it did, but in fact their sacrifices were for opportunistic politicians and the military-industrial complex, who’ve all done quite well, thank you very much. The troops weren’t protecting “our freedom.” On the contrary, the U.S. government’s brutal treatment of Arabs and Muslims endangers Americans by...

Iran’s Nuclear Program