In his academic work, Robert Higgs has dissected the government's shrewd
secret excesses that lead to the Welfare State, the Warfare State, and
the Administrative State. For several decades he has unstintingly
chronicled the federal, state, and local governments' malfeasance in
these many areas of life that all levels of government have intruded
upon without Constitutional mandate. In this book, however, are essays
that show a whimsical, introspective, and personal side of this world
renowned scholar. From the myth that the government has derived its
powers from the consent of the governed to the role of independent
experts in formulating monetary and fiscal policy; from the government's
duplicity in announcing the unemployment rate in a given month to how
the state entraps us, if you want to see a true polymath at work, these
lofty, serious, sad, and illuminating essays will educate you beyond
what you had thought possible about life, liberty, and the economy.