November

THEFREE IDEAS ON LIBERTY 404 What'sYourProblem? Lynn Tilton Acceptingpersonalresponsibilityfor problem-solvingleads to success. 406 A Checklistfor Healthy Skeptics DianneL. Durante Learningto approach predictionsof environmentaldoom critically. 410 Schoolfor Scandal James L. Payne Federal mismanagementseemshere to stay. 412 Art and RepresentativeGovemment WilliamR. Allen and WilliamDickneider Let consumersand philanthropistsdeterminewhat kind of art they want. 414 The S.E.C.'sWar Againstthe Theater John Chodes How regulationlimitstheatricalchoices. 416 Corporate Giving:The Casefor EnlightenedSelf-Interest EdwardH. Crane Counteractingsome destructivetrends in Americanphilanthropy. 424 Capitalism:Who Are Its Friendsand Who Are Its Foes? DonaldJ. Boudreaux A casualempiricalstudy. 427 Spendingfor Spending'sSake John Semmens The intransigenceof a bloated governmentdetermined to spend more money.

428 The Big Nag DonaldG. Smith Is there no escapefrom bureaucraticbadgering? 429 Poland'sFlawedReform Plan PaulA. Cleveland Lookingfor reasonsbehind Poland'slaggingeconomicperformance. 431 Govemment FundingBringsGovemment Control Gary McGath The real issuebehindRust v. Sullivan. 434 Book Reviews John ChamberlainreviewsChina Misperceivedby StevenW. Mosher. Raymond J. Keating examines The CapitalistSpirit, edited by Peter L. Berger; Jeffrey Tuckerlooks at EconomicPolicyand the MarketProcess, edited by Groenveld, Maks and Muysken;and The Cultureof Spendingby James L. Payne is discussed by WilliamH. Peterson. CONTENTS NOVEMBER 1991 VOL. 41 NO.11 THEFREEMAN IDEASON LIBERTY Published by The Foundation for Economic Education Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533 President of The Board: Bruce M. Evans Vice-President: Robert G. Anderson Senior Editors: Beth A. Hoffman Brian Summers Contributing Editors: Bettina Bien Greaves Edmund A. Opitz Paul L. Poirot Copy Editor: Deane M. Brasfield The Freeman is the monthly publication of The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533.FEE, established in 1946 by Leonard E. Read, is a nonpolitical educational champion of private property, the free market, and limited govern ment. FEE is classified as a 26 USC 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization. Other officers of FEE's Board of Trustees are: Thomas C.

Stevens, chairman; David H. Keyston, vice chairman; Paul L. Poirot, secretary; Don L. Foote, treasurer. The costs of Foundation projects and services are met through donations. Donations are in vited in any amount. Subscriptions to The Freeman are available to any interested per son in the United States for the asking. Addi tional single copies $1.00;10 or more, 50 cents each. For foreign delivery, a donation of $15.00a year is required to cover direct mail ing costs. Copyright © 1991 by The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. Printed in the U.S.A. Permission is granted to reprint any article in this issue, provided appropriate credit is given and two copies of the reprinted material are sent to The Foundation. Bound volumes of The Freeman are available from The Foundation for calendar years 1971 to date. Earlier volumes as well as current is sues are available on microfilm from Univer sity Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106.

The Freeman considers unsolicited editorial submissions, but they must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Our author's guide is available on request. Phone: (914) 591-7230 FAX: (914) 591-8910 Cover art: © Washington Post Writers Group PERSPECTIVE DoubleStandard In October 1990,the AnchorageDailyNewsand the AnchorageTimes, two of Exxon's most strident critics since the 1989 Valdez oil spill in Prince WilliamSound, reported that Federally funded re searchers killed hundreds of birds and animals in an attempt to bolster the government's case against the oil producer. The issue has received limited coverage in the national press, and little or no comment from animal rights and environmen tal special interest groups.... A review of the reported facts surrounding this startling, and possibly illegal, use of taxpayers' money: • The Justice Department determined that, to get higher damages, it needed a reliable scien tific model to prove that the Valdez accident killed over 100,000-300,000unrecovered birds that they believe floated out to sea.

• Justice ordered the Interior Department's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to conduct Bird Study No.!. The study consisted of killing birds, dunking them in oil, planting them with transmitters, and depositing them in the water. Once recovered, the scientists could supposed ly [estimate] how many birds drifted away and sunk after the spill. • FWS approved a $600,000contract with a Port land, Oregon, research company, Ecological Consulting Inc., to kill up to 350 birds. • The hired killers shot 250-350mUITes,scoters, cormorants, and ancient murrelets on remote Alaskan islands, many of them protected na tional wildlife refuges, and returned them for use in the study. • The Alaska Department of Fish and Game killed an equal number of ducks for the same purpose, along with 32 deer, 28 harbor seals, three sea otters and minks, and 17 Stellar's sea lions recently listed as a threatened species, to further their case against Exxon....

By way of contrast, the killing of birds by pri vate landowners has been taken quite seriously by Justice. In one case, a Springfield, Illinois, res ident was ordered by local officials to "get rid of" 402 unruly pigeons that congregated in his trees. The resident, Mr. Harvey Von Fossan, laid out poison for the birds, which was unwittingly eaten by two common grackles and a mourning dove, killing them instead. An outraged neighbor informed the U.S. Attorney's office, which prosecuted Mr. Von Fossan under the Migratory Bird Treaty. The ac tion, one government attorney stated, was "one of the most important cases" in his office. In aI!0ther case, the government vigorously prosecuted the owner of a million-dollar goldfish farm for killing birds that were devouring his crop. Both landown ers were found guilty,with Mr. Von Fossan receiv ing a suspended sentence and a fine, and the gold fish farmer a fine and a jail sentence.

-GLENN G. LAMMI Washington Legal Foundation AffirmativeAction I hold that we blacks ought not to allow our selves to become ever-ready doomsayers, always alert to exploit black suffering by offering it up to more or less sympathetic whites as a justification for incremental monetary transfers. Such a posture seems to show a fundamental lack of confidence in the ability of blacks to make it in America, as so many millions of immigrants have done and contin ue to do. Even if this method were to succeed in gaining the money, it is impossible that true equal ity of status in American society could lie at the end of such a road. Much of the current, quite heated debate over affirmative action reveals a similar lack of confi dence in the capabilities of blacks to compete in American society. My concern is with the incon sistency between the broad reliance on quotas by blacks, and the attainment of "true equality."

There is a sense in which the demand for quotas, which many see as the only path to equality for blacks,concedesat the outset the impossibility that blacks could ever be truly equal citizens. -GLENN LOURY,speaking at the Heritage Foundation, quoted in the Spring 1991 issue of Issues& Views PERSPECTIVE Don'tJudgeMotives By judging our motives rather than our actions, we can assuage all guilt over any action or inaction. Everybodythinks his motives are pure and good. And on a conscious level, they probably are. That's why motives just aren't the issue. What we do, not what we intend, is what counts. On the global level, assessing motives rather than actions has led to serious moral distortions. A particularly important example concerns assess ments of capitalism and Communism. Communism has resulted in the loss of freedom by more nations and the deaths of more individuals than has any other doctrine in human history. Yet because it is perceived as emanating from good motives-abolition of poverty, greater equality many people refuse to accord it the antipathy that its deeds deserve.

Capitalism, on the other hand, has led to greater freedom and to less poverty than perhaps any other political-economic doctrine in history. Presumably, it ought to be widely admired. Yet it is often vilified and even its supporters rarely consider capitalism to be a particularly moral system. The reason? It is based on selfish motives. Defense of Communism and opposition to capi talism emanate from the same flaw-assessing mo tives, not results. -DENNIS PRAGER,writing in his quarterly journal, UltimateIssues (6020Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90232) ManagedTrade Over the long run, managed trade has proved a disaster. Lacking both competition and access to modern technology, Eastern Europe was never dis cinlined for delivering computers that were instant museum pieces or cars that belched rotten-egg fumes. When the Kremlin announced last year that the coloniesmust make theirown way in a global market, hundreds of seemingly productive facto ries became obsolete overnight.

-'-PETERPASSELL,writing in the February 13, 1991,New York Times 403 404 THEFREEMAN IDEASON LIBERTY What's Your Problem? by Lynn Tilton I na market economy, when individuals look within themselves rather than to the state to solve their problems, those problems become opportunities for success. After all, problems aren't solved by laws or by organizations, but by individuals. With more than 1,300acres of campus property, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, gener ates mountains of grass clippings, tree trimmings, and the waste associated with the daily campus liv ing of 27,000students. Their landfill expenses kept climbing. Waste is a particular problem in the western states because so much of the land is owned by the federal government. Less private land is available for landfills, so fees tend to be high. Many indus tries, caught between the demands of economics and environmentalists, expect government solu tions. Rather than tum to the state for help, BYU, one of the largest private universities in the nation, initiated its own recycling program.