“And, make no mistake, Marxists did lose a big argument, one we now know as ‘the 20th century’.”
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Phyllis Dixey – 1914 to 1964 – Striptease Artiste – lived here in flat number 15. – The wording proposed last November for a new British Heritage blue plaque, but it proved controversial. I only just came across this story. Since then, I don’t know what has happened. Is this plaque actually going to materialise? What it says at the bottom of this recent news item, about another proposed blue plaque in honour of movie actress Margaret Lockwood, suggests not. If not, shame. January 16th, 2012 | 12 comments - (Comments are closed)
 Austrian economic theory describes how purposive action by fallible human beings unintentionally generates a grand, complex, and orderly market process. An additional ethical step is required to pronounce the market process good. Economic theory per se cannot recommend but only explain markets. This is what Ludwig von Mises meant when he insisted that Austrian economics is value-free. Anyone of any persuasion ought to be able to acknowledge that economic logic indicates that imposing a price ceiling on milk will, other things equal, create a shortage of milk. But that in itself is not an argument against the policy. Mises assumed the policymaker would have thought that result bad, but the economist qua economist cannot declare it such. As Israel Kirzner likes to say, the economist’s job in the policy realm is merely to point out that you cannot catch a northbound train from the southbound platform. – Sheldon Richman writes about How Liberals Distort Austrian Economics January 14th, 2012 | 24 comments - (Comments are closed)
If we immerse ourselves wholly in day-to-day affairs, we cease making fundamental distinctions, or asking the really basic questions. Soon, basic issues are forgotten, and aimless drift is substituted for firm adherence to principle. Often we need to gain perspective, to stand aside from our everyday affairs in order to understand them more fully. This is particularly true in our economy, where interrelations are so intricate that we must isolate a few important factors, analyze them, and then trace their operations in the complex world. – from the Introduction of What Has Government Done To Our Money? by Murray Rothbard. To read the whole thing, go here. January 12th, 2012 | 4 comments - (Comments are closed)
There is nothing in this film for the Left. Where they demonized Margaret Thatcher, the movie humanizes her. It is not about the great events of her political life; these are its backdrop. Her entry into Parliament, her leadership bid, the miners’ strike, the IRA and the Falklands War all feature, but the movie is not about them. Rather is it about the strength of character with which she confronted successive challenges and crises. – Madsen Pirie reviews The Iron Lady. Unlike Nicholas Wapshott, Pirie liked it a lot, and says it will make those who see it like and admire the lady herself more. January 10th, 2012 | 12 comments - (Comments are closed)
The maths doesn’t add up; this is just sinking capital into a loss making project. If you’re going to use the power of the state to do that, then you shouldn’t be surprised that this country is getting poorer. – Steve Baker MP denounces the plan for a new stretch of high speed rail, quoted (behind a registration wall) at the Financial Times. I make this today’s QotD here not in spite of Guido having already featured it as his quote of today (and maybe also of the next few days) but because of this. Baker’s soundbite is getting around. Good. Lots of Americans who read Samizdata but not Guido, and who are also confronting idiot plans to waste their money on high speed rail foolishnesses, will now also read this soundbite. Good again. Meanwhile, as the FT’s headline proclaims, “economists insist” that this piece of Keynesian pump priming that won’t should go ahead, damn the expense. Well they would, wouldn’t they? January 6th, 2012 | 8 comments - (Comments are closed)
Newcastle did not beat Manchester United today, because the long term trend is for Manchester United to beat Newcastle. – Bishop Hill’s quote of the day today. He found it here. This is the game being referred to. January 5th, 2012 | Comments are closed
“At the deepest levels within our governing structures, we are committed to living beyond our means on a scale no civilization has ever done. Our most enlightened citizens think it’s rather vulgar and boorish to obsess about debt. The urbane, educated, Western progressive would rather “save the planet,” a cause which offers the grandiose narcissism that, say, reforming Medicare lacks.” January 1st, 2012 | 10 comments - (Comments are closed)
This might be the only measurement you need to judge the Afghanistan War. Vendors in Kabul are doing a brisk trade in Taliban ringtones. Because Afghans report that the Taliban kill travelers at clandestine checkpoints if they don’t hear one of their messages on someone’s phone. – The opening sentences of a Wired piece by Spencer Ackerman entitled Either Your Phone Plays Taliban Ringtones, or You Die December 29th, 2011 | 12 comments - (Comments are closed)
Also: Merry Christmas, everyone. December 25th, 2011 | 6 comments - (Comments are closed)
December 24th, 2011 | 10 comments - (Comments are closed)
December 22nd, 2011 | 5 comments - (Comments are closed)
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