Economic Freedom

“Special interests…can think of the most ingenious reasons why they should be the objects of special solicitude. Their spokesmen present a plan in their favor; and it seems at first so absurd that disinterested writers do not trouble to expose it.” So begins Chapter 13 of Henry Hazlitt’s 1946 book, Economics in One Lesson. He was speaking of the folly of the New Deal agricultural price fixing scheme which FDR wanted and got. This chapter is an informative example of how government meddling causes all kinds of problems that need to be fixed by further meddling. Each step along the way impoverished the farmers and consumers who it was suppose to help and took away personal choice and liberty.
When will they ever learn? Apparently the current administration learned a lot about how demagogues (those who gain control by playing on public fears) can maneuver into positions of power and profit. The chief instrumentality is a gullible and/or duplicitous press. Our times have become very interesting for those who are interested in economics theories. For years “free market fringe economists" have been explaining how a demagogue or a party apparatus can take control. They explained how propaganda is the main tool. Promises of great prosperity at the cost of a little freedom only lead to less prosperity followed by more loss of freedom. I thought they were talking about South American dictatorships or European fascists. It is interesting to see it now play out with only the thinnest of disguise.
Henry Hazlitt’s book gives several examples and works out the logical consequences of government intervention in the economy. It was meant to be and is an introduction to how economics works. This is simple stuff that many politicians don’t want you to know. This has really never been widely debated because one side in the debate controls the forum of any debate. Mr. Hazlitt’s books are for sale at the regular on-line outlets and at some bookstores. The Ludwig von Mises Institute specializes in that sort of book.
(Professor von Mises, The Last Knight of Freedom, escaped from Austria just before the Nazi take-over and taught and wrote in this country. His work systematizes the school of thought known as the Austrian School. He shows over and over in his work that only economic freedom can make us politically free and prosperous.)