Strike The Root Blog

Mises.org recently published a transcript of the late Austrian economist F.A. Hayek’s appearance on NBC-TV’s Meet the Press back in 1975.

Then, as now, there was a great deal of economic turmoil facing the U.S. and much of the rest of the world. Hayek contended then that the turbulence was mainly caused by the central bank’s inflation of the money supply in order to finance unsustainable central planning, a criticism that equally applies today. Hayek suggested that the answer then was for the Federal Reserve System to simply stop inflating and allow resources to be reallocated according to consumer demand, however painful that adjustment may be in the short term. That’s a suggestion that equally applies to today’s turbulence, but one that Republicans and Democrats alike have shunned in favor of bail-out capitalism and pie-in-the-sky “stimulus” spending and all the massive debt and inflation that goes along with it.

The interview is interesting enough to read for all of the parallels to recent events, but there was one answer from Hayek that I found particularly striking.

One of the interviewers suggested that to simply cease inflation and allow for new economic adjustments to take place would most likely lead to more unemployment, and for that to happen in the already troubled inner cities would most likely lead to anger, frustration and violence amongst those populations, which would then most surely be followed by governmental crack-downs. The interviewer asked Hayek what he would do to ameliorate any ill social effects deriving from further unemployment among urban populations during any post-inflationary adjustment period.

Here’s Hayek’s answer:

“Well, I don’t think there is anything I can do about it. We’ll have to tide over the storm which may be threatening.”

Wow, how refreshing it is to hear such an intellectually honest answer from a public intellectual! How incredibly rare that is. Your typically neo-Keynsian/neoliberal court intellectual–blindly assuming the interviewer’s implied assumption that predominantly black and hispanic populations in inner cities are simply incapable of pulling themselves up by the bootstraps to be gospel truth–would have heard his cue and trotted out all sorts of half-baked ideas for wasteful government welfare programs. Hayek, however, did not so arrogantly assume that he knew what was better for people he knew nothing about.

“I don’t think there is anything I can do about it.” To hear any of your court intellectuals and assorted think tank “experts” make such an admission today would probably cause a complete tear in the space-time continuum, simultaneously catapulting all of us into an alternate reality.

Nadya Suleman is getting hate mail and death threats for having brought eight more babies into an environment where she cannot afford to raise them without outside help. I’m not at all surprised at the hate, but I’m very disturbed by it. When people are forced to pay for other people’s poor choices, they start to feel as if they have the right to control them.

This will only grow. Once Obama shoves through his massive (unconstitutional, as if that mattered) increases in government control of the health care system, we will start to see even more threats and attempts to control. Today, the food fascists use the force of law to ban specific food substances they deem unhealthy. Tomorrow, more of the same. We stand to have far fewer choices and freedom in all areas: recreation, dining, family planning, speech, self defense, and so on. The war against you and your freedoms continues as the government grows unchecked. Your neighbor already checks your trash can for recycling violations; tomorrow he will look for discarded Frito bags and then blow the whistle.
Freedom includes the right to make poor choices and also to suffer as a result. I note that Suleman received compassion from many of her fellow human beings, and I’m sure even those giving her compassion have offered sage advice. That’s how things are really supposed to work, but the pro-government-growth forces don’t believe in it.

Genocide in Gaza, but “No comment”:

Future terrorists to keep the show going, forever and forever:

Accidental illustration- Palestinians hopelessly entangled by Zionist Israel:

The kids turn to Johnny Law for guidance….

…..and are rewarded for obedience to the state:

After all the bailouts and stimulus programs are complete, the lowly tax serf carves up what’s left:

Stand by your man.  Let history be the judge:

Shaman rituals for the Magic Negro:

The state is melting, melting:

On the lookout for terrorist coyotes. The Ex-Emperor-To-Be seems to have fewer and fewer friends:

The sky darkens as the coronation approaches (“From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.”):

Just a reminder- Homeland Security is diligently protecting our shores:

Just a party girl. Please ignore the trail of bodies behind her….

Wouldn’t a dunce cap be a more appropriate product (Keepin’ America Stupid)?:

An idle GM assembly line awaits more bailouts and cheap credit:

Where? I’m still searching:

Collectivism-on-the-Mall….

….and ancient, comical writings on the Capitol wall:

The state gets serious about keeping recruits in line:

Looking for healing. She touched his robe!:

A sense of urgency. Get them while they last:

A few lucky ones are able to escape the clutches of US crusaders:

Burying the dead of wars long past- a job never finished:

Confusion. The Emperor defends the free market.…

….but still reassures the bankrupt dinosaurs:

Keep them busy doing something. Obama‘s job policy:

Obama’s centurions aim to keep The Empire alive:

Together again? And you thought she was finished?:

The instruments of war have a long life:

They’re ALWAYS watching. NEVER get used to it:

A new design for a worthless coin commemorating a worthless tyrant:

“What? Obama is still alive?”

Keep the faith. There’s always hope when pigs start to fly:

Ben contemplates his bailout….

….despite rampant opposition:

Henry points to fellow Americans to bail out his buddies:

How quaint. Daddy and Mommy are going off to war. Killing for the state always takes precedence over caring for your children:

US Crusaders do the killin’ and the Iraqis do the buryin’:

Down for the count. Time to wrap the corpse:

Henry the Healer looks to make things right (for some):

Banks? Time to look for a safer place for your money:

Self defense- the ONLY kind of defense:

The Emperor looks to heal a scarred land:

A symbol so tarnished and muddy, it won’t even burn:

The state finds success in protecting us from plants:

Even with the flowery adjectives, it’s still mob rule:

Passive resistance has its extremes:

US Crusaders are always on the look out for easy targets:

Your cash ain’t nothin’ but trash:

After decades of sticking its nose into other people’s business (and getting its ass kicked), maybe this should be the new symbol of Amerikan nationalism:

Why can’t we all just get along? Lenin and Czar Nicholas II have a chat:

Golfing in the Green Zone. Just the beginning of much larger imperial plans:

Prepare to be stimulated:

The jack boots protect us from evil doers, no matter the size or species:

Hitting the water pipe now and then takes the edge off of war:

A global warming fanatic’s wet dream:

Military recruiters try a more honest approach:

Hillary is a cinch to win the panhandler vote:

The war whores are upset that billions won‘t be flying their way:

Time to put Algore in his place:

Dead (non-American) children are no longer considered relevant to US crusaders:

There’s nothing more entertaining than watching a state tyrant caught with his pants down:

The Emperor pleads for still more Hispanic bodies to fight his wars. He‘s working hard, selling them on the romance of killing:

The demonic force meets the immovable force:

It’s party time:

A war criminal’s hands can never be cleaned:

The “new” Abe is just as ugly and even more worthless:

Johnny Mac claims he can run the world but seems incapable of combing his own hair:

Those ballots look heavy. Why not just vote with your feet and your money?

Tibetans resist the occupying Chinese thugs. Will wimpy Amerikans ever show the same courage to resist their occupiers?

The Emperor greets one of the few with a comparable resume:

Showing pics of the kids- back home and safe. Too bad these young’ns are in the line of fire:

“It was a time of great exulting and excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and sputtering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun…..”

Grillin’ for Peace. There‘s no time for war when you‘re busy feedin‘ your face- or helping others to do the same:

Queen Hillary is all ears. Do you think she would listen to those who just want to be left alone?

The innate wisdom of a child. Voting booths are no place to be:

Kiddie Qaeda? Or just more US propaganda?

Talk about being taken to the cleaners!

With his war criminal credentials intact (and confirmed by the Vietnamese), Johnny Mac makes a large grab for the White House. More bloody glory for The Empire is assured!

There’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for anyone willing to prostitute themselves:

Once the Iraqi genocide is complete, nothing will remain but the lowly canine.

Brad Spangler directs our attention to two great online pieces that I highly recommend.

In the wake of all the latest debate taking place throughout the libertarian blogosphere over the issue of whether or not any libertarian should support the Ron Paul presidential campaign, Spangler has posted “The Damnation of Bill Bradford,” an excellent condemnation of voting written by the late Samuel E. Konkin III. Konkin’s piece was a response to the late Liberty editor Bill Bradford’s article “Voting Is No Sin”, which itself was a response to Wendy McElroy’s “Why I Would Not Vote [Against Hitler].”

The other piece to which Spangler provides us a link was written by Charles Johnson (he of RadGeek.com): “Scratching By: How Government Creates Poverty As We Know It.”

Contrary to many decades of liberal welfare-state apologist propaganda and conservative preaching about “individual responsibility” (a line eventually co-opted by Clintonian liberals), the state is indeed the enemy—not the friend, not the ally, not the protector nor the benefactor—of the poor. As Charles Johnson eloquently illustrates, the state should just GTF out of their way and let them do what they need to do to live.