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Austrian Economics & Communism two faces of the same coin

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wolfman Posted: Tue, Jan 25 2011 3:14 PM

I don’t have the time to write as much as I would like and I also would like to avoid boring you with my thoughts. So I will be brief.

A couple of years ago while working on my BS in Economics I had many doubts on how to put everything together. After graduation, and shortly after I was being called a young economist, I was still breaking my head on how to put things together. Mainstream economics was not working for me.

One day I turned my TV and congressman Ron Paul was talking about a lot of stuff; it was the first time I heard Austrian economics.

Soon I started reading on this website and getting familiar with its economic reasoning.

 

Without understanding the true role of MONEY in an economy you can never draw proper economic conclusions. ABCT is a masterpiece and without it is impossible to know economics.

Yet, I was soon reading many unreasonable, extremists, unrealistic words. Such as: praxeology, anarchism, liberalism and a new breed of capitalism.

I lived under communism for the first 16 years of my life. I know and I appreciate freedom and I have a high understanding of what this is.

Human Action is to me what Das Kapital was to my parents.

Although my exposition my confuse you, I beg forgiveness in advance because I do not have the time nor the wording to properly express myself.

It took me months to solve my economic knowledge and enrich it with Austrian Economics. Yet it is taking me years to understand how AE can be so close to communism.

Only those who have lived in communism might understand what I am talking about.

Thank you for your time.

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xahrx replied on Tue, Jan 25 2011 3:19 PM

Where specifically do you see parallels with AE and communism?  I see none.  You mention Anarchism, socialists/commies appropriated that word before free market types, however when those respective groups speak of anarchism they are talking of completely different concepts.  Commies would likely posit some kind of propertyless, stateless situation.  Anarcho Capitalists simply mean a 100% voluntary system where all services are provided for on a private basis, even those services most people see as natural for the government to undertake.

"I was just in the bathroom getting ready to leave the house, if you must know, and a sudden wave of admiration for the cotton swab came over me." - Anonymous
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I. Ryan replied on Tue, Jan 25 2011 3:20 PM

wolfman:

I don’t have the time to write as much as I would like and I also would like to avoid boring you with my thoughts. So I will be brief.

A couple of years ago while working on my BS in Economics I had many doubts on how to put everything together. After graduation, and shortly after I was being called a young economist, I was still breaking my head on how to put things together. Mainstream economics was not working for me.

One day I turned my TV and congressman Ron Paul was talking about a lot of stuff; it was the first time I heard Austrian economics.

Soon I started reading on this website and getting familiar with its economic reasoning.

 

Without understanding the true role of MONEY in an economy you can never draw proper economic conclusions. ABCT is a masterpiece and without it is impossible to know economics.

Yet, I was soon reading many unreasonable, extremists, unrealistic words. Such as: praxeology, anarchism, liberalism and a new breed of capitalism.

I lived under communism for the first 16 years of my life. I know and I appreciate freedom and I have a high understanding of what this is.

Human Action is to me what Das Kapital was to my parents.

Although my exposition my confuse you, I beg forgiveness in advance because I do not have the time nor the wording to properly express myself.

It took me months to solve my economic knowledge and enrich it with Austrian Economics. Yet it is taking me years to understand how AE can be so close to communism.

Only those who have lived in communism might understand what I am talking about.

Thank you for your time.

Wait, what?

If I wrote it more than a few weeks ago, I probably hate it by now.

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Are you voicing concern about the general dangers of ideological fanaticism, or is there something specific that scares you?  I'm kind of baffled about your worry over "extreme" words like "praxeology".  It's a technical term, every school of thought has them.

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prax·e·ol·o·gy

praxeology pronunciation[prak-see-ol-uh-jee]
–noun
the study of human conduct.
 
Nothing scary there.
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The main difference of which I can conceive is simply the respect of private property. Everything else branches out from that.

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Bogart replied on Tue, Jan 25 2011 4:11 PM

Austrian Economics is exactly the same as Communism except in the areas of 1. Human Action, 2. Human Liberty, 3. Coersion, 4. Counterfeiting, 5.  Regulation, 6. Intervention, 7. Profit and Loss, well the Loss part anyway, 8. Business Cycles, 9. Human Cooperation, 10. Competition, 11. Bureaucracy, 12. State Murder, etc.

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If anything, the only parallel I can find is that both AE/libertarianism and communism may be seen as "extreme" or do not fit the mold of the status quo.  Where communism is "extreme" public ownership, and AE/libertarianism advocates for "extreme" private ownership.  I use the words "extreme" in quotes because the term is not necessarily derogatory, especially in the latter usage.

I can also see another parallel, in that Human Action and Das Kapital can both be seen as revolutionary and inspirational text, although the former is far more logically consistent than the latter.

If you could elaborate on what your thoughts are, I am curious to hear your digression.

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I'm an extremist.  I apply the theory of gravity in all cases where it is applicable.

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