Month: May 2026

Capitalism Needs Journalists Who Are Alert to the New Milton Friedmans

I will admit it. The op-ed by Matthew Hennessey that I quote below, annoyed me and hurt my feelings. I set it aside, thinking I should respond, but not sure of the best response. Some of us, me for instance, have spent a lot of our lives trying to be worthy champions of innovative dynamism (“capitalism” if you prefer). If we have failed to be as effective as Milton Friedman, it is not from lack of trying.

See, for example, Openness to Creative Destruction: Sustaining Innovative Dynamism. I kept waiting and hoping for The Wall Street Journal to review my book. They never did.

Maybe the problem is partly that journalists such as Matthew Hennessey are not sufficiently alert to those academics who defend innovative dynamism; journalists who also are not sufficiently energetic at informing the broader public of our work?

We need new Henry Hazlitts.

(p. A13) Let Zohran Mamdani’s victory in last week’s Democratic mayoral primary in New York serve as your periodic reminder that capitalism is in dire need of able defenders. Socialism has more cheerleaders than it deserves, considering its record of consistent failure. Markets need champions too. This is always true, especially now.

. . .

Who is making a sustained and coherent public case for American-style capitalism? The field is wide open. We need new Milton Friedmans and Thomas Sowells.

For the full commentary see:

Hennessey, Matthew. “Capitalism Needs Champions.” The Wall Street Journal (Tues., July 1, 2025): A13.

(Note: ellipsis added.)

(Note: the online version of the commentary has the date June 30, 2025, and has the same title as the print version.)

My defense of capitalism (what I think should be called “innovative dynamism”) is:

Diamond, Arthur M., Jr. Openness to Creative Destruction: Sustaining Innovative Dynamism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Let Parents Decide if Child Has Cell Phone

In the media and the academy I sense growing agreement that children and adolescents should have their cell phones restricted or even taken away. I disagree. Parents within a very wide range should be free to parent. I wanted our child to have a cell phone when she was in school, partly to co-ordinate logistics, but mostly to be able to contact her in emergencies. Many girls died in the flooding at Camp Mystic last summer. Camp Mystic, apparently like many camps, did not allow the girls to have cell phones. With cell phones some of the girls might have received timely warnings from their parents, and still be alive today.

(p. A3) In the wake of revelations by Kerr County officials that they didn’t have a flood warning system, an online petition has been started to get one set up for any such future disasters. “This is not just a wish—it is a necessary investment in public safety,” said the Change.org petition signed by more than 100 people since going up Friday [July 4, 2025]. “Early warning sirens have saved thousands of lives in other communities by giving clear, unmistakable alerts day or night, even when cell phone service or electricity fails.”

Nicole Wilson, a resident of nearby San Antonio who started the petition, said she was moved into action after seeing friends nearly lose their children to the floods while at Mystic and other camps along the river and knowing that most, like one her daughters go to near New Braunfels, Texas, don’t allow cellphones or other electronic devices. She said outdoor warning sirens, such as the one she grew up with in Kentucky to seek shelter from tornadoes, could give lifesaving advance notice.

“You are going to hear the sirens, and you are going to know what the sirens mean,” said Wilson, 42, an Army veteran. “I have no doubt if they had five minutes warning they would have had opportunity to get uphill, and they would have had a chance.”

“They had no chance,” she added, her voice breaking. “They had no warning.”

For the full story, see:

Jennifer Hiller, Eric Niiler, and Jim Carlton. “Flooding Alerts Escalated as People Slept.” The Wall Street Journal (Mon., July 7, 2025): A3.

(Note: bracketed date added.)

(Note: the online version of the story was updated July 6, 2025, and has the title “Escalating Alerts of Dangerous Flooding Arrived When People Were Sleeping.”)