Is the current administration really that uninformed? or is there a method to their madness? It seems like they are making every effort to make mistakes, do the wrong thing, spend money in the wrong places - much more than you would expect a normal person to do (I do think these people are smart... somehow).
Are they trying to drive the market deep into a crash quickly? Do they want to hit the bottom in 3 months so they have the option to build something before the next election? Normally following the Austrian theory leaves me knowing where we will end eventually - but always expecting it much too quickly. Now I can't even keep up. Are they doing this on purpose?
February 17 - 1600 - Giordano Bruno is burnt alive by the catholic church. Aquinas : "much more reason is there for heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only excommunicated but even put to death."
Their interests are not your interests. What they are doing makes perfect sense for them and their friends.
Marko: Their interests are not your interests. What they are doing makes perfect sense for them and their friends.
I don't think that they intend to do harm per se. But it's worth it for them! They don't want to think about it too critically. They have been in this system always, and all their friends are basically doing the same thing as they are. They just consider themselves lucky (and skilled) and hope for the best of "the others". They want to believe that they are doing the right thing, but they don't want to challenge that belief critically.
It's like when you are speeding on a beautiful road, in order to feel the power of your sports car and the adrenaline of handling it through the curves. You are exposing potential meeting drivers of terrible risks. But for a few minutes, it just feels worth it for you and you don't want to think about the potentially horrible consequences. Guys who make it political top positions, are the ones who never care. Others drop out early.
It's not fascism when the government does it.
“We must spend now as an investment for the future.” - President Obama
I certainly seems so sometimes, doesn't it? I too often find it hard to believe that the administration could be so stupid. In the defense of them just being incompetent and not conspiring to undermine the US economy, I would paraphrase Carl Young and say that "They cannot see the dragon that has swallowed them" - meaning that these Keynesian socialistic economists and politicians have been raised and coddled with nonsense since their youth and cannot see the bigger picture.
On the other hand, I am very open minded to the entire idea of the New World Order that would involve a world banking structure and that the power elite are purposefully disposing of old systems in order to bring in a new consolidated globalized world system. There is certainly plenty of thought provoking evidence for this. I certainly don't rule it out.
Good post. I think that it is a mistake to rule out so called "conspiracy" ideas purely because you don't want to be labeled a conspiracy theorist or fringe thinker. I think that bold anaylsis and curiousity should hit all areas.
James Greene: I certainly seems so sometimes, doesn't it? I too often find it hard to believe that the administration could be so stupid. In the defense of them just being incompetent and not conspiring to undermine the US economy, I would paraphrase Carl Young and say that "They cannot see the dragon that has swallowed them" - meaning that these Keynesian socialistic economists and politicians have been raised and coddled with nonsense since their youth and cannot see the bigger picture. On the other hand, I am very open minded to the entire idea of the New World Order that would involve a world banking structure and that the power elite are purposefully disposing of old systems in order to bring in a new consolidated globalized world system. There is certainly plenty of thought provoking evidence for this. I certainly don't rule it out. Good post. I think that it is a mistake to rule out so called "conspiracy" ideas purely because you don't want to be labeled a conspiracy theorist or fringe thinker. I think that bold anaylsis and curiousity should hit all areas.
There is no conspiracy and no method to their madness. They are just very stupid.
Humans are not very smart. We have to learn things in order to have any competency. Put your regular average Austrian economist in the wild and he will most likely starve to death. It is the same thing for these politicans. They understand how to get power but they don't understand economic.
That's why we have the free market, so us dumbass humans could live in relative prosperity in spite of our stupidity.
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For argumental purposes,
Isn't it hard to believe that they could be that stupid. Lets put this in perspective.
I can describe the economic collapse to anyone, whether they have a basic understand of economics or not; it's more common sense, then not. For example, my grandma has never been in school - EVER! She only speaks spanish, and I can barely speak spanish. She has no basic understanding of economics, yet she was able to comprehend that the government does not have money to spend, and that they are just bailing out bad businesses making it hard for others to develop. She was even able to comprehend the idea of hyperinflation, by using apples as an example. My grandmother is 84 years, has never been in school, and I can barely communicate with her, and she is able to understand what it is happening before our eyes.
Can the government (as of now, the Obama Administration) really be this blind?
I actually believe that the government is not necessarily doing this on purpose, but like you said, is doing this because this is what they know. Government defiecit spending hasn't really effected them that much, and they feel that "they are the government, they can do whatever they feel is right." Add that with the idea that a typical human being is very egotistcal (including myself), they feel they can accomplish anything, and they will do it at all cost; even if that means changing the structure of our economy for the worst.
To paraphrase Thomas Woods: I am not saying it is all a big deliberate conspiracy. But if it were, what would be any different?It is not a conspiracy in a sense that there is some sort of a grand masterplan or that their absolutely best interests are served. No I agree that the rulers are dumb. But they also instinctively know what is good for them. The whole bunch of them. Thus they are instinctively prone to making decisions thar empoverish you for their benefit. Being dumb they commit the mistake of being shortsighted and go for policies which serve them best in the short term, but which do not necessarily serve them best in the long term. However we must understand that at no point are they attempting to do what is best for us. It is not a part of their programme. They do not function in those terms.
LanceA: For argumental purposes, Isn't it hard to believe that they could be that stupid. Lets put this in perspective. From my experience, people can really be that stupid. What seem obvious to us is not so. Consider the concept of zero for example. For a very long time, it has not been understood and people were even prosecuted for expressing the idea of zero. It is a very improtant concept to mathematics but it takes thousand of years for humans to discover and use it as a number. http://libregamewiki.org - The world's only encyclopedia on free(as in freedom) gaming. | Post Points: 5
What does it mean from them to do the right thing? Laissez-faire Capitalism? Is it possible that Obama who has been elected for his welfare and socialistic ideology to now come out and say: "oops, sorry. I was wrong. I use to be a Marxist, but I found this Mises guy and now I believe in free markets"?
I don't think they are capable of doing the right thing even if they knew and understood the truth. It would be like committing ideological suicide. What do you expect from people who have been elected by other people who simply do not believe in individual freedom, nor do they even understand what freedom is. We are all trapped in the system.
i think the right thing of letting the market free will only be greeted when the current interventionism finds its death and the current generation of socialist propaganda is finally put to its end. Thats the only way it will find support. People wont support political inaction that will lead to a fast hard recession until the alternative of trying to preserve status quo with state money injections becomes clear to lead us down the cliff in the long run, which means free market will take control after the monetary systems have collapsed, unfortunately. The nationalist ideals of government protection are also still very in bred, even if only on the level of defense force and social support, and until those ideals vanish from the public's perception, there can be no hope of the support for government plans to not at least find acceptance if not complete support
Doug: Is the current administration really that uninformed? or is there a method to their madness? It seems like they are making every effort to make mistakes, do the wrong thing, spend money in the wrong places - much more than you would expect a normal person to do (I do think these people are smart... somehow). Are they trying to drive the market deep into a crash quickly? Do they want to hit the bottom in 3 months so they have the option to build something before the next election? Normally following the Austrian theory leaves me knowing where we will end eventually - but always expecting it much too quickly. Now I can't even keep up. Are they doing this on purpose?
I don't think so. Just like most people grow up to believe in whatever religion their parents taught them, I think most people, including politicians, believe in whatever political philosophy their parents taught them. Most people do not know how to think critically and challenge their pre-conceptions. You have to remember, these people simply won a popularity contest. And look at all the Keynesian professors running around. There are plenty of "intellectuals" to back up their platform.
At most, I think only 5% of the adult population would need to stop cooperating to have real change.
Thanks for the replies. I'm always amazed how I think I am approaching a question without a particular bias - but when I post people seem to pull in different viewpoints pretty quickly. Time to watch the president and see if he pulls out another idea (making things even worse ;) ) tonight.
To paraphrase Thomas Woods: I am not saying it is all a big deliberate conspiracy. But if it were, what would be any different?
Marko - Watching the president tonight -ugh. I was trying to figure out what they were thinking and I remembered your quote. I guess analyzing it won't help - it is what it is.