Home
Eric Hanneken's Library tagged → View Popular
16 Oct 09
Diagnostics and Therapeutics in Political Economy
Robert Higgs responds to those who ask him for a solution to the problem of government growth.
-
Because I am often introduced as an authority on government growth, the lay audiences seem shocked and disappointed when I answer the query about how we can stop further government growth by saying that I don’t know or, worse, by saying that I don’t think we ― which is to say, those of us in the room and all other likeminded people ― can do anything significant to deflect the trend toward larger, more tyrannical government.
-
Lay people and professionals alike, however, need to appreciate two critical points. First, in social and economic affairs, one man’s problem may be another man’s solution. The growth of government belongs to this category. Many people are pleased when the government grows, whereas others are outraged.
- 4 more annotations...
22 Sep 09
New Deal Orgy No Model For Current Binge
-
No serious student of the Depression denies that a partial recovery took place between 1933 and 1937. Yet, just because Washington had unleashed a torrent of spending doesn't mean that the government's spending caused the expansion.
-
After an economic bust, bad investments must be liquidated, so salvageable assets can be reallocated to their most valuable uses. If the government props up failed endeavors through bailouts and other programs, necessary readjustments of the economy's capital structure are slowed or halted, and the toxic mistakes of the past become locked in place, obstructing recovery and hindering the creation of future wealth. The New Deal recovery efforts had exactly these effects, as do current government policies.
- 2 more annotations...
08 Sep 09
World War II: An Unspeakable Horror Now Encrusted in Myths
-
In this war, the belligerents plumbed new depths of depravity: operation of mass-destruction death camps, tortune of every conceivable kind, terror bombing and other attacks systematically aimed at civilian populations, crowned by the gratuitous atomic bombing of two large, defenseless cities.
-
the idea that the war left the world a better place seems to me unacceptable as a flat, unqualified statement.
03 Aug 09
I Worked for the Government Today without Pay
-
I thought about throwing the second form in the trash, as I had thrown the first one. Then I thought about telling the U.S. Bureau of the Census to go to hell. Then I thought about the large, threatened fines, and I filled out the form. I spent about 15 minutes doing so. My rate of pay for having done so works out to exactly zero dollars per hour, which is somewhat less than I usually charge for my services.
Well, big deal, you may be thinking. But I invite you to pause and consider afresh what this little episode in my life illustrates. -
everything the government gets done — including its extraction from me of information about my business — it gets done by threatening people with violence.
- 1 more annotations...
1 - 8 of 8
Showing 20▼ items per page
Selected Tags
Related Tags
Sponsored Links
Ads by Google
Diigo is about better ways to research, share and collaborate on information. Learn more »
Join Diigo