Transcript Economic Disinformation

Economic Disinformation
Roman Skaskiw
http://romaninukraine.com
http://romanskaskiw.com/blog
Ludwig Von Mises Institute:
http://mises.org
http://mises.org.ua
“Unlike other scientific disciplines, the basic
truths of economics must be taught to enough
people in order to preserve society itself.”
~Robert Murphy
"The curious task of economics is to
demonstrate to men how little they really know
about what they imagine they can design."
~ Friedrich von Hayek
John Maynard Keynes:
“The ideas of economists and
political philosophers, both when
they are right and when they are
wrong, are more powerful than is
commonly understood. Indeed the
world is ruled by little else. Practical
men, who believe themselves to be
quite exempt from any intellectual
influence, are usually the slaves of
some defunct economist.”
Paul Krugman:
“To fight this recession the Fed needs more than a
snapback; it needs soaring household spending to
offset moribund business investment. . . . Alan
Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble to
replace the Nasdaq bubble.” (2001, NY Times)
John Maynard Keynes:
“In the long run we are
all dead.”
Paul Samuelson (1970 winner of Nobel
Prize in Economics):
Paul Samuelson (1970 winner of Nobel
Prize in Economics):
1976 - "It is a vulgar mistake to think that most
people in eastern Europe are miserable."
Predicts soviet economy will overtake the US
Paul Samuelson (1970 winner of Nobel
Prize in Economics):
1976 - "It is a vulgar mistake to think that most
people in eastern Europe are miserable."
Predicts soviet economy will overtake the US
1985 - whether soviet political oppression
"worth the economic gains." this is "one of the
most profound dilemmas of human society."
"There can be no doubt that the soviet
planning system has been a powerful engine
for economic growth."
Paul Samuelson (1970 winner of Nobel
Prize in Economics):
1976 - "It is a vulgar mistake to think that most
people in eastern Europe are miserable."
Predicts soviet economy will overtake the US
1985 - whether soviet political oppression
"worth the economic gains." this is "one of the
most profound dilemmas of human society."
"There can be no doubt that the soviet
planning system has been a powerful engine
for economic growth."
1989 - "contrary to what many skeptics had
earlier believed, the soviet economy is proof
that a socialist command economy can
function and even thrive."
Economics In One Lesson
by Henry Hazlitt
The Broken Window Fallacy
Too much profit & greed?
1946
Robert Gordon (Keynesian Economist): “In the summer of 1945
the belief was fairly widely held in Washington that unemployment
would be a serious problem.”
Alvin Hansen (Keynesian Economist) 1943: “When the war is over,
the government can’t just disband the Army, close down munitions
factories, stop building ships and remove all economic controls.”
Predictions of 6 to 9 million unemployed.
*** Actually, 1946 was the single greatest year of economic growth
in U.S. history.
YouTube: Keynesian Predictions vs. American
History | Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
1921 vs 1929
1921 vs 1929
1921
1929
Starting DJIA: 119.62
Ending DJIA: 63.9
Total Loss: -46.6%
Starting DJIA: 381.17
Ending DJIA: 198.69
Total Loss: -47.9%
1921
President Harding (1921-1923)
(Herbert Hoover was Secretary of
Commerce.)
President Coolidge (1923-1929)
Speaking about Herbert Hoover: “That man has
offered me unsolicited advice for six years, all of it
bad.”
1929
President Hoover (1929-1933)
- 1929-1931 Federal spending increased by 40% -- biggest ever during
peace time
- Deficit became 60% of the budget -- largest ever during peace time
- More money on public works than ever before: NY's Jones Beach, Los
Angeles Aqueduct, San Francisco Bay Bridge, Hoover Dam
- Wage Controls -- "No president before has ever believed that there was a government
responsibility in such cases. We had to pioneer a new field.” / "Wages were maintained until the
cost of living had decreased and the profits of companies vanished. They are now the highest real
wages in the world."
- Smoot Hawley Tariff
- Tax increases.
- Federal Home Loans subsidies
- Citizens Reconstruction Organization -- People who redeemed dollars for gold were called
unpatriotic traitors
- Paid farmers to keep wheat off the market to support prices.
1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1954)
- New Deal = massive expansion of Hoover’s policies
- Executive Order 6102, 1933 "forbidding the Hoarding
of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by
U.S. citizens.
- Federal Drug Laws
- Federal Child Labor Laws
- National Recover Administration "codes of fair
competition"
- A New Jersey tailor named Jack Magid became
nationally famous after he was arrested, convicted, and
imprisoned by the code police for the "crime" of
pressing a suit of clothes for 35 cents when the Tailors'
Code fixed the price at 40 cents. (mises.org)
- Price fixing in Agriculture
Hoover Laissez-Faire????
“. . . as Washington tries to rescue the economy, the nation will be reeling
from the actions of 50 Herbert Hoovers — state governors who are
slashing spending in a time of recession, often at the expense both of
their most vulnerable constituents and of the nation’s economic future.”
(Paul Krugman, NY Times, Dec 28 2008)
“Keynesians everywhere are wincing. Deficit reduction during an
economic contraction, they will argue, runs the risk of deepening the
contraction, causing greater human suffering, and prolonging the point at
which the economy starts to recover. That's what happened in 1929, and
we really don't want to go there again.” (“A Nation of Hoovers”, Salon.com,
June 18 2009)
Senator Charles Schumer (D – NY): “this President [Bush] is beginning to
resemble Herbert Hoover in his hands-off approach.” (“Hoover’s Heirs”,
Wall Street Journal, April 3 2008)
1921 – Socialism and the
Knowledge Problem
Ludwig von Mises
2011 – The End of the Dollar
Low Interest Rates
Austrian Business Cycle Theory
Ludwig von Mises
Friedrich Hayek
"A correct theory of depressions
and of the business cycle does
exist, even though it is
universally neglected in presentday economics."
Murray Rothbard
Roman Skaskiw
http://romaninukraine.com
http://lostrepublic.us
http://romanskaskiw.com/blog
Ludwig Von Mises Institute:
http://mises.org
http://mises.org.ua
Misc
http://lewrockwell.com
http://cafehayek.com
"Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs,
confuses the distinction between government and society.
As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being
done by government, the socialists conclude that we
object to its being done at all.
We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say
that we are opposed to any education. We object to a
state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no
religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then
they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so
on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not
wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state
to raise grain.“
~ Bastiat, The Law
Austrian School of Economics
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Free Market
Austrian Business Cycle Theory
Sound Money
Deduction vs. Empiricism
Subjective Value
Ethics:
– Non aggression principle
– Self-ownership