Phil,
For the sake of everyone, I certainly hope you are wrong.
I do appreciate this gem from your comments below: "faith based paper
money system." I am going to use that! Do you recall where the phrase
came from, or did you come up with it yourself? You also use the word
"campaceny" below. I can't find anything like that in the online
dictionary; did you mean "complacency?"
As far as "socialists and fascists fighting it out," I would point out
that fascism is a *form* of state socialism. If we want people to
recognize this, it is best to avoid speaking or writing as if they were
two separate creatures.
Interestingly, the distinction I like to make between state or
top-down socialism, and voluntary or bottom-up socialism, has a longer
pedigree than I was previously aware of. The June issue of Liberty
magazine has an article titled "Anarchist Socialism" in which Wendy
McElroy presents an essay by John William Lloyd.
"The term 'socialism,'" she writes, "as used by the 19th century
individualist radicals differed in meaning as dramatically as the word
'liberal' today differs from its 18th century usage. As used by Lloyd
and his contemporaries, socialism per se -- as opposed to State
Socialism -- did not negate private property or the primacy of the
individual but referred more to voluntary, cooperative ventures through
which a just society could be achieved. Thus, many of the voluntary
communities of early libertarianism could be viewed through either a
socialist or individualist lens. To the extent that Individualist
Anarchists who sometimes used the label 'socialist' had a point of
overlap with collectivist-socialists, it is: they agreed with the labor
theory of value. Since Individualist Anarchists also insisted on the
primacy of contract, however, their position devolved to the statement:
interest and rent are invalid practices, nevertheless everyone has the
right to make a foolish contract, and no third party has the right to
interfere."
Yours in liberty,
<<< Starchild >>>
If you believe the government statistics on cpi and unemployment, then
some research on your part might be advised. I don't know if the Mises
Institute sees unrest in our future, but it seems to this obsrever
that there is a great deal of suffering going on in the cities the
suburbs and the hinterlands, and that when viewed through an Austrian
lens, our economy and our people are in for a very rough ride.I think
that the failure to educate the public , or even the elite about the
fundamentals of Austrian economics is a gret tradgedy. for as
conditions worsen Americans will be looking for someone to blame, and
it won't be the true culprits, the Fed. Usually the socialists and the
faschists fight it out. Already the battle lines are being drawn.
Cato has absolutely failed on this score. I vividly remeber one Cato
scholar on C Span smugly telling folks, if they just put thier 401 k
into stocks they will be OK. Well anyone who retired in 1929 or 1966
would have waited 20 years for the purchasing power of thier portfolio
to break even. By not explianing to the American people that we do not
have capitalism, but centrally planned corporate socialism at the
finacial core of our economy, and that the problems of inflation and
deflation are not inherant in capitalism, but the result of systemic
banking errors, leaves the public open to Socialism or Faschist
leanings when times get tough, as they inevitably do. We have
undergone an historic credit expansion under greenspan. It has been a
great ride. But all credit expansions end in trdgedy. They always
have. This one being global due to Bretton Woods, and unlimited due to
the worldwide adoption of a faith based paper money system, will end
very badly. Even the ultimate insider Paul Volker in a recent
Washington Post Op ed, understated his concern and questioned wether
anything can be done at this late date to fix the world economy.
Talking to San Fransiscans who are riding high on the real estate
credit bubble about trouble ahead is like talking to a flapper in
August 1929 about what her life will be reduced to in 1933.Nobody
drinking from the punch bowl cares to listen. Even is this group,
economic campaceny is the prevailing sentiment. We;; I can't tell you
how or when the party ends, but my bets are on worldwide
hyperinflation.The pity is the socialist will blame the greedy
corporations and the faschists will blame the revenge of God for the
loose morals of the liberals and nobody will blame the Fed. Freedom
will be the victim. It already is.
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lpsf-discuss/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
lpsf-discuss-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/