The world is now on the brink of a colossal collapse of all welfare states. This cluster of failures will include the most developed and democratic nations on the planet. There has never been a universal political and economic failure like the one ahead.
That is of no concern for leftists. Ideology is more important than results. The hardships along the way are rationalized with nonsensical tripe such as “you cannot make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.”
When times get tough, Socialists respond by demanding more from the productive. Tax coercion and/or the printing presses are their preferred methods. Either, when carried far enough, destroys economies and societies. For some Marxists, that itself is a goal as it is the necessary and inevitable end to capitalism.
Currently Reading
The Fourth Turning by William Strauss, Neil Howe
From Dawn to Decadence, 500 years of cultural life by Jacques Barzun
Churchill, Hitler and the Unneccesary War by Pat Buchanan
The Inflation Crisis and How to Resolve It by Henry Hazlitt
On Democracy by H.L. Mencken
Theory of Socialism and Capitalism by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Tbe Revolution : A manifesto by Ron Paul
Economic Science and the Austrian Method by Hans-Hermann HoppeBlog Stats
- 402,839 pageviews
Archives
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
Excellent article which destroyed the socialism cult for me.
What are your favorite, most essential economics books, especially on refuting left wing style Keynesian economics? I’ve already read many myself, but I’m always on the lookout for more books so I can have enough knowledge to destroy a leftist or a socialist in their limited, fantasy ideology. Would you also recommend reading Keynes’ General Theory to get a feel for why certain economists believe in the policies that they advocate?
Reading Keynes is in my view hopeless, unless you want your brain to get entangled in nonsensical constructs (I’ve only tried reading small parts of it, and my brain just hurts). And most economists, even Keynesians, haven’t read Keynes. Better to pick up a standard macro-economic textbook and then applying austrian economic theory to it to understand how their flawed model of the world works.
The first and best book to destroying a number of economic myhts is “Economics in one lesson” by Henry Hazlitt. After that, it sort of depends on what part of the economic spectrum you are going for – but the Mises Institute probably has every important book ever written on economics available (and lots of other things).
Alright thanks. I got through “Economics in One Lesson” yesterday and loved it. Basically a lot of economists don’t think about what their remedies are going to do to the economy in the long run. I’ve also read Greg Mankiw’s Principles of Economics last winter for my economics class which went into basic Keynesian concepts, which I self studied in a week and took notes for and Thomas Sowell’s “Basic Economics,” which Captain Capitalism recommended to me, which brilliantly defended free market capitalism with tons of real world examples. All very helpful in gaining more economic knowledge than the average MBA holder.
I also found a great book on Mises by Hazlitt called “The Failure of the New Economics” that tries to refute Keynes’ General Theory chapter by chapter. I’m pretty much going to try reading Keynes and have that book as a guide to understand all the economic fallacies and vague language that Keynes wrote in.
I also don’t understand the big hype about MMT (Modern Monetary Theory), which seems to defend the whole fiat currency/central banking system that we have now. I don’t want to describe what it is because I don’t want to misrepresent their views, but here’s what I’m talking about.
http://mises.org/community/forums/t/22477.aspx?PageIndex=1
http://socialdemocracy21stcentury.blogspot.com/2012/12/robert-murphy-on-mmt-unimpressive.html
Summary of how the radical left thinks:
“No doubt additional jobs will be created in new private businesses, but it is unlikely to be enough. Free markets do not guarantee full employment, nor does Say’s law work. Employment in tradable goods and services in many countries will probably fall dramatically. Our employment future will probably be mainly in services, education, and most probably in employment programs funded by government or in government-sector jobs. There will probably be a great reduction in the hours that people need to work as well and more leisure.”
“It might well be that much of the government-funded labour force will be in education (e.g., universities), sciences, research and development, or other services. I suspect a much greater labour force working in basic sciences and applied R&D would mean a much more rapid advancement of science and technology too – a virtuous circle.”
I’ll give the blogger credit for citing STEM related fields as being vital, but I think once you read some of that last post, you’ll realize how dangerously utopian and unrealistic their way of thinking really is. Keep fighting the good fight in stopping the radical left and their socialism tinged nonsense from taking over.
http://socialdemocracy21stcentury.blogspot.com/2012/12/rise-of-robots.html
the beast is on the gobble
and all that matters is we’re all headed for it’s belly