• "Well written, well researched, and the thesis put forth is well argued.... Woods has opened up an area of historical analysis that should invite further study."
    -Journal of American History

  • "During these times that challenge our freedoms there is no one more qualified to make U.S. history relevant to the fight against big government than Thomas Woods."
    -Barry Goldwater Jr.
    Former Member of Congress

  • "I strongly recommend Woods's work."
    -The Honorable Ron Paul,
    U.S. House of Representatives

  • "Written with great clarity and fluency, making the complex philosophical and theological concepts approachable."
    -Journal of American Studies

  • "A must-read."
    -Barron's

  • "An excellent reading source for anyone interested in financial markets, and much more so for anyone interested in learning about capitalism without all the misinterpretations being thrown about in the financial media."
    -Asia Times

  • "Provocative, well-written, and deserves to be read."
    -Catholic Historical Review

  • "An engaging and important contribution to scholarship on the history of American Catholicism."
    -Journal of the Historical Society

  • "Woods and [co-author Kevin] Gutzman appeal to both left and right in this constitutionalist jeremiad…. The authors' exegeses of the Constitution and court decisions, heavy on original intent arguments, are lucid and telling."
    -Publishers Weekly

  • "A marvelous read. Every chapter taught me something new and unexpected."
    -Tom Bethell, senior editor,
    The American Spectator

  • "The hottest book today is Meltdown, by my friend Tom Woods."
    -Judge Andrew Napolitano, senior judicial analyst,
    FOX News Channel

  • "Should be required reading."
    -Economic Affairs (London)

  • "Woods, one of the best classical liberal [libertarian] scholars of his generation, has once more placed us in his debt with this lucid and tightly argued book."
    -David Gordon, The Mises Review

  • "Tom Woods is one of my dearest allies in the struggle against wrong-headed and dangerous economic policy."
    -Peter Schiff

Fan’s Shot Comes With $22,000 Tax Bill

Michael Drysch hit a half-court shot the other day and won $75,000 for himself and for the Boys and Girls Club of America. About $22,000 will be taken in taxes.

Unlearn the Propaganda!

  • http://twitter.com/KeimgMeg Hank

    Thus demonstrating the absurdity of taxation in general.

  • FarSide.Liberty

    This is great:

    “When asked Friday night on NBA
    TV what he would do with the money, Drysch responded, “Give the
    government half.”"

    Unsurprisingly, more than half the comments on the article are along the lines of, “So what, he’s got more than he started with” or “This is stupid. Everyone knows you have to pay taxes on stuff like that”

    Dr Woods, I don’t know how you keep going in the face of so many people who just think something like that is “normal” and never question anything.

    Stories like these also show how people are conditioned to get jealous of others who may come into money – either by work or luck – and get angry if anyone considers keeping what is theirs.

    Of course I’m sure there’s some crossover there with those idiot sports fans who scream about players making too much money while continuing to spend 1000′s of dollars on tickets/tv networks/memorabilia.

  • Franklin

    There is nothing and nobody greedier than the government. The insatiable avarice of the tax man, the pol, the bureaucrat is amoral and unthinking, like a machine, a robot, a “Terminator” for the pop-culture inclined.
    What’s more unsettling is the masses who rationalize that greed, and who sit subserviently by the table, like puppies waiting for scraps.

  • Redman

    See for the facts about the tax:
    http://www.losthorizons.com and end the scam

  • Anonymous

    My favorites are the zombies who get a refund check in April: “The Gummint GAVE me a check!!!”

  • JackofSpades

    My name is Elizabeth, and I would just point out that this individual drove to the stadium on government roads, into the stadium the government created with tax dollars, and is protected from cannibals, mass murders, and Iranians by a military created by the society.

    It’s nice that he won, but he signed a social contract before he was born. He doesn’t get to opt out of it when it is inconvenient. I am not jealous that he won, but the aforementioned contract demands that he give some to the society that made it possible for him to succeed.

  • http://www.TomWoods.com Tom Woods

    Oh, come on. You’re not going to pull this nonsense on my blog. Dutifully repeating the propaganda your overlords have filled your head with — why, you’ve actually agreed to be expropriated! We provide you with wonderful services our of our commitment to justice! — is no way for a human being to live. Your remark begs every important moral question. I have already replied to this silliness here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTqEePlZiqk

  • http://twitter.com/Seraphson Highwind Cid

    Might as well go back to Serfdom seeing as the rates are on about par depending on the period.

  • Jack

    In the womb, maybe earlier? With what? He didn’t exist back then, he didn’t have hadns to write his signature with, nor brain to understand what he is NOT SIGNING, because he just wasn’t.
    “he signed a social contract before he was born” I can inform you that you’ve signed numerous contracts before you were born, and now you have to comply, because it’s a contract. Now, according to my copy of the contract … Sounds silly, ha?

  • Jim

    This has to be (an Elizabeth Warren) parody. Nobody in the real world would literally subscribe to the social contract concept. As soon as you say that society set something up (somehow?), or that there is a social contract that you signed without yet existing to sign it, you know that its parody or hilarity.

  • http://twitter.com/KeimgMeg Hank
  • Franklin

    “He signed a social contract before he was born. ”
    Priceless. LOL

  • Anonymous

    “That’s not real!”

    - David St. Hubbins (1984)

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