Showing posts with label economics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economics. Show all posts
Friday, January 20, 2012
Friday, December 23, 2011
We Should Learn Something About the Science of Economics
The following are some quotes by the great economist Ludwig von Mises. These are important because our political class will try to pull one over on us every time. But we can protect ourselves by becoming familiar with the economic principles that made this country great in the first place. Today's politicians, never so much as Barack Obama, are defying these good economic rules and this can end only one way - in slavery to the state.
Economics is not about goods and services; it is about human choice and action.
All those not familiar with economics (i.e., the immense majority) do not see any reason why they should not coerce other people by means of force to do what these people are not prepared to do of their own accord.
The main achievement of economics is that it has provided a theory of peaceful human cooperation. This is why the harbingers of violent conflict have branded it as a dismal science and why this age of wars, civil wars, and destruction has no use for it.
Rulers do not like to admit that their power is restricted by any laws other than those of physics and biology. They never ascribe their failures and frustrations to the violation of economic law.
As conditions are today, nothing can be more important to every intelligent man than economics. His own fate and that of his progeny is at stake.
The body of economic knowledge is an essential element in the structure of human civilization; it is the foundation upon which modern industrialism and all the moral, intellectual, technological, and therapeutical achievements of the last centuries have been built.
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War doesn't liberate; it enslaves. It is the state on overdrive: taxing, inflating, kidnapping, killing. February 25-25 2012 | Furman University, Greenville, SC
Saturday, May 24, 2008
"Voters Prefer Heroes and Villains to Supply and Demand"
Thomas Sowell the economist, has a wonderful three-part article at Capitalism Magazine where he describes how politicians look to paint the picture of any particular problem as a hero and villains issue rather than what it is a problem of supply and demand.
This is Mr. Sowell's comments on the oil "crisis".
Senator Barack Obama clearly understands people's emotional needs and how to meet them. He wants to raise taxes on oil companies.
How that will get us more oil or lower the price of gasoline is a problem that can be left for economists to puzzle over. A politician's problem is how to get more votes-- and one of the most effective ways of doing that is to be a hero who will save us from the villains.
You have heard of the cavalry to the rescue. But have you ever heard of economists to the rescue?
While economists are talking supply and demand, politicians are talking compassion, "change" and being on the side of the angels-- and against drilling for our own oil.
Has any economist ever attracted the kinds of cheering crowds that Barack Obama has-- or even the crowds attracted by Hillary Clinton or John McCain?
If you want cheering crowds, don't bother to study economics. It will only hold you back. Tell people what they want to hear-- and they don't want to hear about supply and demand. (CapMag 1).
This is Mr. Sowell's comments on the housing "crisis".
So long as politicians can get some people's votes by publicly feeling their pain when it comes to housing costs, and other people's votes by restricting the building of housing, they can have a winning coalition at election time, which is their bottom line.
Economists may point out that the different members of this coalition have conflicting interests that could be better resolved through competition in the marketplace. But how many economists have ever put together a winning coalition?
So long as voters prefer heroes and villains to supply and demand, this game will continue to be played. It is not because supply and demand is too "complex" to understand, but because it is not emotionally satisfying.(CapMag 2)
This is Mr. Sowell's comments on property rights and how they are being mangled by the "living Constitution" doctrine.
However, once the notion of "a living Constitution" became fashionable, the Constitution's protection of property rights has been "interpreted" virtually out of existence by judges.
The biggest losers are not people who own property but people who have to pay higher prices because politicians make it harder for businesses that charge lower prices to come into the community.
Despite the political myth that government is protecting us from big businesses charging monopoly prices, the cold fact is that far more government actions have been taken against businesses that charge low prices than against businesses that charge high prices. (CapMag 3).
This is Mr. Sowell's comments on the oil "crisis".
Senator Barack Obama clearly understands people's emotional needs and how to meet them. He wants to raise taxes on oil companies.
How that will get us more oil or lower the price of gasoline is a problem that can be left for economists to puzzle over. A politician's problem is how to get more votes-- and one of the most effective ways of doing that is to be a hero who will save us from the villains.
You have heard of the cavalry to the rescue. But have you ever heard of economists to the rescue?
While economists are talking supply and demand, politicians are talking compassion, "change" and being on the side of the angels-- and against drilling for our own oil.
Has any economist ever attracted the kinds of cheering crowds that Barack Obama has-- or even the crowds attracted by Hillary Clinton or John McCain?
If you want cheering crowds, don't bother to study economics. It will only hold you back. Tell people what they want to hear-- and they don't want to hear about supply and demand. (CapMag 1).
This is Mr. Sowell's comments on the housing "crisis".
So long as politicians can get some people's votes by publicly feeling their pain when it comes to housing costs, and other people's votes by restricting the building of housing, they can have a winning coalition at election time, which is their bottom line.
Economists may point out that the different members of this coalition have conflicting interests that could be better resolved through competition in the marketplace. But how many economists have ever put together a winning coalition?
So long as voters prefer heroes and villains to supply and demand, this game will continue to be played. It is not because supply and demand is too "complex" to understand, but because it is not emotionally satisfying.(CapMag 2)
This is Mr. Sowell's comments on property rights and how they are being mangled by the "living Constitution" doctrine.
However, once the notion of "a living Constitution" became fashionable, the Constitution's protection of property rights has been "interpreted" virtually out of existence by judges.
The biggest losers are not people who own property but people who have to pay higher prices because politicians make it harder for businesses that charge lower prices to come into the community.
Despite the political myth that government is protecting us from big businesses charging monopoly prices, the cold fact is that far more government actions have been taken against businesses that charge low prices than against businesses that charge high prices. (CapMag 3).
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