Section 4 of Chapter 15 of Mises’s Human Action is called “The Sovereignty of the Consumers.” Mises talks about the unhampered market economy and how that democracy, in which “every penny gives a right to cast a ballot,” might be more democratic than any government could ever hope to be. This passage got me thinking about these concepts, and how the state impedes them.
Tag: economics
(Video also available on Bitchute.)
A recent article by Jon Miltimore over at FEE about Russell Brand’s demonetization got me thinking about this phenomenon. I think we’re all aware that there are some very shady people who really want to pull the strings of society, but even so I feel like Neo-Feudalism is one of those terms that gets treated as whack-job but really isn’t when you think about it.
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Bad Banks and Skyscrapers
(Also available on Bitchute)
Doug French wrote an article last week called “Bank CEOs Have Their Heads in the Clouds” and he talks about how all of the bank CEOs are very optimistic, but he notes that their real estate agents are optimistic, and so are their loan officers.
Had the idea for this video after watching a couple of episodes of the Bob Murphy Show. In the first, Bob has Oren Cass on. Oren did some really excellent work debunking the economic hysteria around climate change, but these days he seems to be going down an oddly protectionist pathway. Bob lets him talk without too much pushback (because Bob’s a nice guy and is genuinely interested in giving opposing views a fair shake).
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The Enemy Is Scarcity!
Breaking down a really economically illiterate article by Caitlin Johnstone, who has some good positions (on say, censorship and government surveillance) but economics apparently isn’t one of them…
I watched a great video from Michael Boldin over at the Tenth Amendment Center the other day. Even though it was one of their shorter “Fast Friday” episodes, Michael touched on a very interesting topic: happiness and freedom. He argued that the Founders placed extreme value on freedom, to the point where several of them said things to the effect of: “You cannot be truly happy unless you are free.” That simple but profound statement got me thinking.
The structure and details of investing is one place pop “economists” seem to love to be ignorant. For example, we have the eminent Thomas Piketty, who says the return on investment in capital exceeds the overall rate of growth of the economy. We’ll get into that in more detail in a minute, but first let’s start with a great example of what he’s missing: the potential downsides of investment.
The state loves to regulate the market. They often couch their regulations in words like “efficiency,” “savings,” and “choice,” but the fact is that all their regulations can do is impede the efficiency of the market, force savings where consumers want better solutions, and eliminate choices.
I’m going through Human Action again, and this section just jumped out at me. It’s the most succinct, clear, and beautiful takedown of the anti-market mentality, and how democracy is inferior to markets, that I’ve read in a long time.
The corresponding bit of Human Action is here, for your own reading pleasure.
Check out my latest at the Mises Wire. It’s about how the Modern Monetary Theory clowns use something like the Motte and Bailey fallacy to gain influence with politicians and feed them really bad ideas. The negative consequences of those ideas are well known to MMTers, but they can omit them and pretend they’re “unintended.”
Here’s a little bonus bit that I wrote about it:
My focus was how MMT’s use of odd definitions, convenient tautologies, and strategic vagueness leads to politicians thinking they be more aggressive parasites without negative consequences.
Court intellectuals remain so by justifying the actions of their state masters. MMT is just another place for would-be court intellectuals to do this. It’s as easy as omitting secondary consequences (“unintended” consequences) from their writing.
The modern capital structure is vast and complex but can quickly and easily be destroyed by an overzealous state. The USSR’s policies turned Ukraine from a breadbasket into a valley of death in just a few years, and it can happen again.
Good economists stand in the way of idiots demanding our seed corn. Bad economists cheer the thugs on. They omit vital caveats and let the state’s greed take its course.