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I don't necessarily buy into "Austrian" economics, but this guy is really engaging in a bit of a straw man here. "When someone pays me, I receive the purchasin

by api 14y ago

I don't necessarily buy into "Austrian" economics, but this guy is really engaging in a bit of a straw man here. "When someone pays me, I receive the purchasing power of that money at that time, why shouldn’t I be entitled to that purchasing power in perpetuity? Well, because purchasing power is temporal; if a bubble bursts, or the economy dives, there is no reason at all why I should be able to buy the same basket of goods as I could at the top of the bubble." Of course. That's not the point. The point is that there is a central authority that can manipulate the value of money and in so doing can favor of disfavor different players in the economy. It's also quite un-democratic. There are criticism of this from the left as well as the right. (For the life of me I've never been able to figure out why some on the left consider the existing Federal Reserve system progressive.) The author also conflates libertarianism and conservatism, which isn't something you can just do with a hand-wave. The former is far more complex than that. He also tosses out red herrings about the 9/11 "truth" movement and similar things to achieve guilt by association. Crummy article.

cmontanaro 14y ago
I'm saying that a central authority with that kind of power is necessary and advantageous in a recession. And that they (central banks) are more accountable to the people than e.g gold mining companies. And the propensity for libertarians to indulge in conspiracy theories is more than guilt by association.
- maxharris 14y ago
  Gold mining companies are accountable to reality: they can't extract gold that isn't there. Nor can they extract gold that isn't profitable to get at given the technological context. Money is supposed to be a representation of wealth, and private banking does that perfectly. In contrast, government banks are "accountable" only to the whims of politicians and a public that wants its cake ("reasonable" taxes) and to eat it too (immoral entitlement programs). That's one purpose that statist banking serves: to make up for the inherent, recurring government budget shortfall by printing boatloads of money, forcibly lowering the standard of living of anyone that saves, in order to "benefit" those that won't or can't.
  - cmontanaro 14y ago
    The entire article deals with this. I'm not going to reiterate.
- api 14y ago
  It's also very advantageous for favoring politically well connected players in an economy and engaging in economic warfare. As far as conspiracy theories go, it depends on who you're talking about. It also depends on the conspiracy theory. Conspiracies do exist; the phrase "conspiracy theory" has of late been used as an effective tool to dismiss what used to be called investigative journalism or social criticism. Anyone advancing a criticism of the social order or putting forward the outrageous idea that powerful people might organize to maintain their power is a "conspiracy theorist." Obviously powerful people are rational, egoless, dispassionate technocrats and are only concerned with the public interest. All praise the great steersmen!

by api 14y ago

cmontanaro 14y ago

I'm saying that a central authority with that kind of power is necessary and advantageous in a recession. And that they (central banks) are more accountable to the people than e.g gold mining companies. And the propensity for libertarians to indulge in conspiracy theories is more than guilt by association.

maxharris 14y ago
Gold mining companies are accountable to reality: they can't extract gold that isn't there. Nor can they extract gold that isn't profitable to get at given the technological context. Money is supposed to be a representation of wealth, and private banking does that perfectly. In contrast, government banks are "accountable" only to the whims of politicians and a public that wants its cake ("reasonable" taxes) and to eat it too (immoral entitlement programs). That's one purpose that statist banking serves: to make up for the inherent, recurring government budget shortfall by printing boatloads of money, forcibly lowering the standard of living of anyone that saves, in order to "benefit" those that won't or can't.
- cmontanaro 14y ago
  The entire article deals with this. I'm not going to reiterate.
api 14y ago
It's also very advantageous for favoring politically well connected players in an economy and engaging in economic warfare. As far as conspiracy theories go, it depends on who you're talking about. It also depends on the conspiracy theory. Conspiracies do exist; the phrase "conspiracy theory" has of late been used as an effective tool to dismiss what used to be called investigative journalism or social criticism. Anyone advancing a criticism of the social order or putting forward the outrageous idea that powerful people might organize to maintain their power is a "conspiracy theorist." Obviously powerful people are rational, egoless, dispassionate technocrats and are only concerned with the public interest. All praise the great steersmen!