They discuss how America really recovered following the Great Depression, among other topics. I’m surprised he didn’t mention Ron Paul when asked about others who share his opinion about the free market. He did mention Peter Schiff and Mark Thornton though.
I’m in the middle of reading Woods’ new book and I can’t recommend it enough. If only the economic meddlers in the Obama administration would take a break from their meddling and read the book, maybe we’d see ourselves in a better place a year from now.
Listen to the interview here:
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In an op-ed piece at the Washington Times, Jeffrey T. Kuhner compares the path the United States is taking to that of Argentina in the 1940s:
What is not commonly known about Argentina is that prior to World War II, it was an economic powerhouse. Beginning in the 1880s and continuing through the 1920s and 1930s, it was regarded as one of the most prosperous and advanced nations in the world.
Argentina had a strong industrial base, thriving agricultural exports and a broad and expanding middle class. Like America, it served as a magnet for immigrants from all over the world, especially Italians. Within 15 years, however, Argentina went from being one of the richest to one of the poorest countries.
This was due largely to Peronist policies. Upon coming to office, Peron, along with his popular wife, Eva, established a corporatist state characterized by lavish social spending, elaborate welfare programs, protectionism, confiscatory taxation and runaway deficits.
With the Federal Reserve embracing a policy of quantitative easing (printing money), inflation is bound to result just as it did in Argentina, Weimar, and so many other nations whose governments and central banks debased their fiat currencies until the currency was destroyed and middle class disappeared.
Referring to Juan Peron, Argentina’s leader, Kuhner writes:
The failure of Peronism should serve as a warning: Socialism and a sky-rocketing national debt can permanently impoverish even the wealthiest nations. America is not immune from the laws of economics. Prosperous republics – ancient Rome, the Italian city-states, Argentina – have seen their wealth squandered, never to recover.
Peron and his famous wife, Eva, is compared to our new President and his First Lady:
Mr. Obama is taking the first dangerous steps toward an American version of Peronism. His followers see him as a political messiah, a revolutionary change agent who will foster national cohesion and unity. He and the Democrats are plundering the state, using it as a vehicle to reward supporters (and punish foes). He is our Dear Leader, whose image is everywhere from magazine covers to T-shirts to baseball caps. His wife, Michelle, is the Eva Peron of our time – glamorous, chic, a fashion trend-setter who is beloved by the media.
Most ominously, Mr. Obama is repeating the statist populism that didn’t work in Argentina, and will not work in America. Professor Philip Jenkins wryly observes that the United States of America risks becoming “the United States of Argentina.” He is right. Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.
Judge Andrew Napolitano has a brand new (online only for now) show called Freedom Watch on FOX News. The first show was this afternoon. It was a liberty power hour. It brought together the likes of Ron Paul, Peter Schiff, Cody Willard, and The Judge for an hour of discussion. Also on the show were Stephen Moore from the WSJ and Alan Colmes from FOX.
I was unable to capture the video of the show, but I did record the entire show’s audio. I enjoyed the pre-show banter where Cody Willard asks Peter Schiff about running for office in 2010 so I kept that part in the audio available below. Also they discuss how the “blogs have been going crazy” about the show.
One of the best quotes comes from Willard when he calls Treasury Secretary Geithner “a 35 year old punk”. Cody Willard is the host of the FOX Business show called “Happy Hour” and is a friend to free markets and individual liberty. Read his blog “The Cody Word”.
It sounds like The Judge will have Ron Paul back and some of his other guests in the coming weeks. It’s a great listen and if/when FOX posts the video I’ll post it below.
For now listen to the 60 minutes of audio below. Note that the show doesn’t start until about 2 1/2 minutes in. If you want to miss the banter and opening music then just jump to that point.
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Trends researcher Gerald Celente was on Glenn Beck’s show today. They discussed the potential for a “Global Katrina” (in Beck’s words).
I said a long time ago that I thought Glenn Beck was the “main stream” media equivalent of Alex Jones. I don’t think this is too far off the mark. In fact as time goes by it becomes more evident.
Ron Paul delivered another video message today. This time he explains his opposition to the Republican re-negotiated stimulus bill. He argues that whether the bill is $900 billion or $800 billion it is still a bad bill.
Ron Paul immediately describes the bill as a spending bill, not a stimulus bill. I think he’s being too nice. The bottom line is that the bill is a progressive agenda. It is a wish list for the progressive movement of the past 8 years. Now it appears that it will pass thanks to 3 moderate Republicans agreeing to vote for it.
Another masterpiece in the Lew Rockwell collection is an article based off a talk he gave at the 2009 Jeremy Davis Mises Circle in Houston. This is a must read:
We are fortunate to be living in these times, for we are seeing the unfolding of events long explained and predicted by the Austrian tradition.
Maybe that sounds implausible. What is fortunate about our times? The economy is tanking, stocks have been pummeled, unemployment is rising, and Washington is pursuing the worst combination of economic policies since Hoover and FDR. Nor does the new guy in charge seem to have a clue about the limits of what government can do.
Consider what it means to live through our times in the light of economic understanding. Even in the face of calamity, there is no mystery and hence fear is reduced. You look at department stores going belly-up, and you know why. You see parking lots empty, and you know the reason. You have friends losing their jobs, and there is clarity concerning the cause. You see depositors in failing banks lose their money, and you are not surprised. Prices behave in ways that shock and surprise everyone else, but you know what’s what.
In many ways, it is like watching the movement of stars and planets with the scientific knowledge provided by astronomy, or observing the effects of a plague with medical knowledge.
Without the understanding, the events look mysterious, like a curse from the gods, and their patterns appear random. With the knowledge, with the understanding, we can make sense of the events. Patterns of cause and effect emerge. You see events before they happen, like turning the page of a script before the movie catches up to you. This gives you a sense of intellectual coherence and inner peace – even in the midst of calamity.(Continue reading).
The bleeding is not going to stop anytime soon. This is from CNN Money regarding the beginning of the week’s horrid news on the jobs front.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The final week of January began with a bloodbath for the job market, as over 71,400 more cuts were announced on Monday alone.
At least six companies from manufacturing and service industries announced cost-cutting initiatives that included slashing thousands of jobs.
More than 200,000 job cuts have been announced so far this year, according to company reports. Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost over 2008, the highest yearly job-loss total since 1945.
“It’s all about the consumer, and the consumer’s been hit hard,” said Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics. “It’s a vicious circle as weakness begets layoffs, which beget more spending weakness.”
The beauty of a free market (oh, how I wish we had one!) is that companies that act responsibly and perform well (create quality products or services, create jobs, etc.) will thrive and the ones that act irresponsibly (create subpar products or services, take on risky debt, etc) will fail. It’s Darwinism as its finest. If governments intervene and “prop up” failing businesses, they’re doing nothing more than condoning and legitimizing the poor business practices that caused the businesses to fail in the first place.
In my opinion, GM and Ford have long been really poor companies. I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of their balance sheet, but their products are shoddy at best. If a company puts out junk for a product, why would we want to subsidize it? Today’s article at the Ludwig von Mises Institute comments on the impending bailout of GM:
General Motors has once again approached the federal government with its hand out. It should not be forgotten that in September of 2008, Congress gave the “big three” automakers a loan totaling $25 billion. Now they are back. This time they say that with a mere $50 billion they can turn things around and become profitable in the future. The management of GM and Ford as well as the UAW have been meeting with Nancy Pelosi to arrange a deal. GM claims that if the government does not give them the money they demand it will spell doom for the company and thus the entire US economy.
Let’s consider the impact of GM ceasing to exist — highly unlikely even if they declare bankruptcy. Hypothetically, GM would close its doors and all 266,000 workers would be unemployed, never to find work again, or so GM would have the public believe. GM maintains that it is really in the best interest of the country and economy to continue to support their failing business model. After all, in what kind of a world would the government allow a company that employs 266,000 workers to fail?
The more I listen to politicians running for office pandering to the masses about “fixing” the economy and “creating” jobs, the more I think we ought to make it mandatory that all candidates have at least a rudimentary understanding of basic economic principles. Considering that no third-party candidate has any chance of winning, we’re going to get stuck with either McCain or Obama. But both seem to be completely economically illiterate.
Barack Obama is campaigning for president under the slogan “Change We Need.” Unfortunately, many of his economic policy proposals would move us in exactly the wrong direction. As of this writing it appears that Senator Obama will be the next president of the United States. We can move forward by looking at the implications of some of his economic policy proposals.
Consider first the issue of trade. One of the fundamental principles of economics is that there are gains from exchange. During the third presidential debate, Senator Obama said that he believes in free trade but then proposed a slate of caveats and provisos that would undermine the principles of free trade. On the surface, environmental protection and labor standards sound noble, but they actually harm the desperately poor by artificially raising the cost of employing them and effectively legislating them out of the international marketplace. Restrictions on trade provide a short-run windfall for unionized American workers—a powerful Obama constituency—but this windfall comes at the expense of other Americans who have to pay higher prices and at the expense of poor people around the world who are then barred from the market.
Carden then goes on to discuss Obama’s ideas regarding NAFTA, the idea of “creating jobs”, unions, and the minimum wage.
Ron Paul had some choice words yesterday on Fox News for Barack Obama (and John McCain) when he spoke to Neil Cavuto again. Paul again rails against the government’s attempts to manage the economy and strikes a chord for true free market capitalism. Here are some choice quotes from the interview.
“[Obama] offers nothing.”
“Raising taxes would be a disaster.”
“We need to get back to the basics.”
“People in government aren’t smart enough [to control the economy].”
“We’ve been living way beyond our means.”
“The system that was set up in 1971 is going to end.”
Liberty Maven
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