Random Misesian Blipverts from an English Rothbardian Heretic
I think you have forecast in previous posts about a gradual decline in law and order - e.g. tax riots, increased violent crime, the rise of national socialism. I confess to thinking you were barking mad at the time. I am seriously beginning to revise that opinion now ...
I am barking mad. I also have wild eyes and the distant stare of a deranged fanatic.These are the basic entry requirements for one of the two Libertarian Alliances we have in this country. (The other one is populated by people who seem far too reasonable, and who would not look out of the place at a Chelsea dinner party - where you will frequently find them, of course.)My predictions, such as they are, given my limited understanding of Austrian economics, and my limited reading of the field, are, however, based entirely upon the writings of Ludwig von Mises, or his leading disciples, such as Murray N. Rothbard, so it's hard to miss (once again, given my intellectual limitations described above, which are many, though I try to work on them continually).This is the nature of a priori science, like Mathematics, Euclidean Geometry, or Austrian Economics. If you get your axioms right, everything else must follow. Yes, the trick is getting your axioms right, but every other flavour of economics denies that even if this were possible, you could never successfully predict anything, because human behaviour is allegedly too complicated to successfully predict.Which is pants, as every successful entrepreneur will tell you. Also, does it really take a genius to work out that if you print more money, all the money currently existing will go down in value? I mean, it's hardly rocket science, is it, yet this is beyond all Keynesians, who think that engaging in such practices actually increases wealth. But then, thinking this probably just proves I'm barking mad, again! ;-)If you want to know what's going to come next, in Britain, simply read Von Mises monumental work, Socialism, first written in 1922, though updated regularly until around 1951.The analysis is still finer, 60 years before the event, than anything you will read in a rag like The Grauniad.Read, particularly, chapters 19, 20, 33, and 34 (though do read all the rest, as well).
I read "Socialism" back in the summer of 1986 when I was at Lancaster University. A long time ago now and so I have forgotten much of it. The whole argument about prices and private property, and how the latter was essential to the formation of the former was so original and novel - up to that point I had never read anything like it. I dont claim to fully understand it even now although reading the thoughts of Hayek, Rothbard and others since has helped over the years (even John Gray in one article he did some years ago).
I wish I fully understood Mises myself. It's a struggle, and learning Chinese is certainly easier, but I think it's a struggle worth persevering with.Anything is better than allowing tyrants like Gordon Brown and Barack Obama to destroy our lives, with their appalling small-minded socialism and mobocracy.Thank goodness Murray Rothbard was around to help the rest of us interpret the density and complexity of what Mises was trying to tell us.I think I better re-read 'Human Action' again! :-)
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I think you have forecast in previous posts about a gradual decline in law and order - e.g. tax riots, increased violent crime, the rise of national socialism. I confess to thinking you were barking mad at the time. I am seriously beginning to revise that opinion now ...
I am barking mad. I also have wild eyes and the distant stare of a deranged fanatic.
These are the basic entry requirements for one of the two Libertarian Alliances we have in this country. (The other one is populated by people who seem far too reasonable, and who would not look out of the place at a Chelsea dinner party - where you will frequently find them, of course.)
My predictions, such as they are, given my limited understanding of Austrian economics, and my limited reading of the field, are, however, based entirely upon the writings of Ludwig von Mises, or his leading disciples, such as Murray N. Rothbard, so it's hard to miss (once again, given my intellectual limitations described above, which are many, though I try to work on them continually).
This is the nature of a priori science, like Mathematics, Euclidean Geometry, or Austrian Economics. If you get your axioms right, everything else must follow. Yes, the trick is getting your axioms right, but every other flavour of economics denies that even if this were possible, you could never successfully predict anything, because human behaviour is allegedly too complicated to successfully predict.
Which is pants, as every successful entrepreneur will tell you. Also, does it really take a genius to work out that if you print more money, all the money currently existing will go down in value? I mean, it's hardly rocket science, is it, yet this is beyond all Keynesians, who think that engaging in such practices actually increases wealth. But then, thinking this probably just proves I'm barking mad, again! ;-)
If you want to know what's going to come next, in Britain, simply read Von Mises monumental work, Socialism, first written in 1922, though updated regularly until around 1951.
The analysis is still finer, 60 years before the event, than anything you will read in a rag like The Grauniad.
Read, particularly, chapters 19, 20, 33, and 34 (though do read all the rest, as well).
I read "Socialism" back in the summer of 1986 when I was at Lancaster University. A long time ago now and so I have forgotten much of it. The whole argument about prices and private property, and how the latter was essential to the formation of the former was so original and novel - up to that point I had never read anything like it. I dont claim to fully understand it even now although reading the thoughts of Hayek, Rothbard and others since has helped over the years (even John Gray in one article he did some years ago).
I wish I fully understood Mises myself. It's a struggle, and learning Chinese is certainly easier, but I think it's a struggle worth persevering with.
Anything is better than allowing tyrants like Gordon Brown and Barack Obama to destroy our lives, with their appalling small-minded socialism and mobocracy.
Thank goodness Murray Rothbard was around to help the rest of us interpret the density and complexity of what Mises was trying to tell us.
I think I better re-read 'Human Action' again! :-)
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