Why are the Austrian Economists the profit nobody listens to?
People think that bank runs are bad, without knowing the evils of fractional reserve banking.
People think that this short recession should be fixed, without knowing what caused it or how the fix will make things worse.
People think that government is heroic, when it is really the biggest nemesis of the people.
Schools are labour camps.
Lack of knowledge?
I expect you are familiar with the saying:
"Give a man a fish an he will survive for a day; teach a man to fish and he will survive for a life time"
Whenever I hear it said, I always think to myself that whoever says it forgets to assert three things:
You, being the austrian economist (anarchist/minarchist), would probably say:
Now, collectivists ignore this completely, statists ignore the I in (1.), (2.) and (3.):
Collectivists: In Utopia all get to own fish; the fishermen catches and eats; the non-fishermen just eat; and profit is non-existant, because, apparently the fishermen are altruistic beings satisfied by all the honors and medals they get.
Statists, while knowing they themselves cannot teach the knowledge of fishing, ask/direct the fishermen to teach. Whoever cannot be taught in the proces, the fishermen must give some fish. Also, the statist being so hard-working and wise in the directing of fish-teaching must have some fish too... this is not profit, mind you, it is a marginal wage, a return on the effort of maximizing the amount of fish, the allocation of fish and knowledge of fishing.
Statists only disagreement is who would be the better maximizers overall. This they must convince/coerce all the fishermen and non-fishermen to put to a vote. This is a cumbersome affair demanding much effort and an ample supply of fish. The original idea of the State providing the knowledge of fishing becomes suspended. The original creed is changed to:
"Give Us and a man enough fish to survive until the day we can maximize the amount of fish, the allocation of fish and the knowledge of fishing"
The point of this tale?
The next time some statist tells you: "There is no I in team!", you can say: "Perhaps not, but there is an I in (1.), (2.) and (3.); you just lack the knowledge to see it", and add: "I know about austrian economics, come, let me teach you how to fish".
NB I'm sorry if it turned out to be a silly rant, but in the end I couldn't just discard it.
Exercising and lowering calorie intake are healthy the way to lose weight and stay fit.
Diet pills, fad diets, lipo-suction, stomach stapling... they're band-aids that may give the illusion of fixing the problem, but don't work in the long run, and can also exacerbate one's poor health.
Economics, in a strange way, is similar.
(BTW... I think you mean "prophet," not "profit")
eliotn:Why are the Austrian Economists the profit nobody listens to?
Great economists, lousy marketers.
We can fix this.