The War of Secession from Great Britain (you
may call this the Revolutionary War, but it was indeed secession) was
based on the idea that our rights of life, liberty and pursuit of
happiness (property) comes from our humanity NOT from the government.
This was the American idea.
That we are all created equal in RIGHTS (not equal in material).
For the first time the idea of Nobility was struck down. Nobility was the previous system where men were born with rights over other men.
This appeal to man's logic of the nature of our rights is the
Jeffersonian system of a free people that we have come to know as
American.
That our populace has this engrained in its history must be carried forward, not dissolved.
This is who we are!
A free people!
Free from the tyranny of the state.
By Jim Fisher
The Mises Institute.
Named after the most brilliant economist ever, and you likely never heard of him.
Why?
See if I can shed light.
Ludwig Von Mises born in Austria-Hungry 1881 wrote the most thorough
treatise on economics called "Human Action" where he begins by doing
what was never correctly or thoroughly done before. That is defining
economics. What is the science of economics actually studying? People
think its about money and markets, but it's really about studying "human
action".
Not psychology, but purposeful human behavior. In that
all actions human take starts with a feeling of uneasiness. Were it not
for this feeling of uneasiness there would be no reason for action.
From scratching your nose to leaving for work in the morning, all action
requires this.
Then Mises goes on to tell us the other
prerequisites for human action, like the belief the action will change
the outcome and the actual means to act.
For example, the human action of eating a sandwich. First you must have a feeling of uneasiness- Hunger!
Then you must have the belief that eating will remove this uneasiness -
that's pretty simple, we all believe that eating makes hunger go away. Then you must have the means to eat. Food, money, hands, whatever.
Perhaps this seems boring to some, but it is very important as it
defines the starting point for what economics is, the study of human
action, or what Mises called Praxeology (another thing you likely never
heard of)
After Human Action, Mises gained a little fame and taught in Switzerland where he wrote a book called "Socialism".
In this book Mises completely dismantled the hopes of socialists everywhere by bringing forth the "great calculation debate".
Mises proved socialism was unworkable because of it not having any
meaningful price system, so it could never calculate the allotment of
resources correctly, thus ending in a tragedy of resource misallocation,
which as Russia showed us, will result in starvation and countless other
problems.
Mises brought forth a great number of reasons
socialism couldn't work, but "The Great Calculation debate" was the one
most socialists economists tried to actually answer.
Of course
Mises writings got him in danger with the Nazi's, and he eventually fled
to the U.S. and taught for the rest of his life.
When one calls himself an "Austrian Economist" as I do, this is why. We are students of Mises and others he descended from.
There are other schools of economics such as "Keynesian
economics". These schools fail to even define economics. Why? They
think it to be a hard science like physics or biology. They come up with
complex models to attempt to predict prices that are meaningless. Why?
Because it all boils down to human action, and that can never be
predicted with any real meaning.
Mises set out to use economics
to rationally explain our world of human actors with a real theory of
prices, and the law of marginal utility, and the business cycle and what
causes it. He showed us that economics can never predict with certainty,
but if we rationally explain the past correctly we can understand what
is likely to happen if we repeat it. But to not repeat we must have
correctly identified causes and effects.
Mises was the first to
tell us that the business cycle (the boom and bust cycle like we just
saw in housing) is a result of monetary expansion (printing too much
money).
He was the only economist to warn of the Great Depression before it happened.
He explained how the roaring 20's was a boom caused by massive printing
and how, as fun as it was, it will eventually lead to a bust.
Mises was the first to define this cycle so clearly.
So why is this important?
Why the Mises Institute today?
The Keynesians don't believe printing too much money causes the
business cycle. They believe its a natural phenomenon of the free
market. The believe that printing money is how you fix it.
And Ben Bernanke agrees.
The Austrians say that Alan Greenspan printed too much money and caused
the housing crisis. To fix it, we need to stop printing, stop
interfering with the market and let the bust take hold.
Mises
said the bust part of the cycle is tough because that's when the market
corrects itself. All the people that went into housing must reallocate
into where demand really is (because it never was really in housing, that
was a false demand caused by too much money). But once people move into
sectors where there is real demand, the economy is repaired.
But the Keynesians, like Bernanke, say no, we need to print our way out.
People need more credit to keep buying more housing. We can't let the
bust take hold. We need to re-inflate housing.
So he printed with QE1
Then printed with QE2
Now QE 3 with unlimited printing. He has been printing since the collapse and is determined to make it work.
You need to pick a side.
Ludwig Von Mises?
Or
John Maynard Keynes
All that printing is destroying our currency. Oil is over 3.50 because of inflation, that's the truth he'll never confess.
It's time to learn and choose!
