Freedom, justice, and productivity differ diametrically from the principles which guide the welfare state. Mr. Hazlitt explained and elucidated the difference in his 1970 book, Man vs. The Welfare State, which is a masterly study of the absurdity of transfer policies. He is at his best when he punctures the welfare pretensions with a single telling thrust. Henry Hazlitt was 90 years old when he, together with his wife Frances, published a small collection of passages from the great writings of the Roman Stoics. It undoubtedly sheds some light on the Hazlitt thought and conduct at their particular stage of life.
Old age has a great sense of calm and riches.
But it also brings aches and pains, and every little illness is thought to be the beginning of the end. Yet, a man of 90 is a great comfort to all his elderly friends for he is the vanguard in front of the line. His friends of 60 and 70 are convinced that the enemy must reach him first before he will reach their lines. At the age of 90, many an individual finds his way to Stoic answers to the calamities of life. Suffering bodily frailties and ailments and encountering misfortune, they seek consolation in natural austerity and divine power.