Will the democrats bring back slavery?

Well, it is safe to presume that they won’t revive the 18^th century version. However, if slavery is defined generally to cover any case where ownership rights are claimed over another human being then the answer may well be yes. Obama is reportedly planning forced labour schemes for school children and for college students as a precondition for receiving a grant.

Of course, if you want to be nice about Obama,

Taming the Bankers

The current financial crisis predictably has socialists gloating about the demise of capitalism and the blessings of state regulation. They will probably be wrong about the demise of capitalism –a prolonged crisis not withstanding– but may have half a point about regulation. The question is how exactly a leash should be designed if investment bankers are to be kept on it.
Most free market economists would agree that financial markets need prudential

Is it OK if some governments do it?

Rulers like Bolivia’s Morales and Venezuela’s Chavez are receiving their fair share of criticism for their cavalier attitude towards property rights. Yet at least one US state government is doing pretty much the same thing and few people notice.

Lauren Canario, one very active protester against the ongoing eminent domain abuse has been detained for more than 80 days for trespassing, and is likely to spend Christmas in prison. The international libertarian has more on this here.