One doesn't have to read far into the works of George Orwell to discover that he had no understanding of economics whatsoever and was not personally a libertarian in the sense we have in mind when we use that word today.
The Royal Company was at last dead, stillborn, and old du Noyer's loss was the French public's gain.
"Refusing to accept wage reductions, workers must accept unemployment."
The articles by Messrs. Waters and Wollstein (Liberty, Sept./Oct. 1987) highlight a vitally important question for libertarians: How can we act, and act morally, in a State-controlled and dominated world? It seems to me that the most important concern is to avoid the twin, and equally destructive, traps: of ultrapurist sectarianism, where indeed we would not permit ourselves to walk on government-owned streets; and sellout opportunism, in which we could become supervisors of concentration camps while still claiming we were "libertarians" in some far off, ideal world. Opportunists are people who severely split theory from practice; whose ideals are tucked away in some closet or trophy room and have no bearing on their daily lives. Sectarians, on the other hand, suffer from what the Catholics would call the error of "scrupulosity," and are always in danger of boxing themselves in to become hermits and virtual martyrs. All well and good; but to avoid both pitfalls, we need some criteria to guide us.
"Because of rate busting, society as a whole will move toward greater and greater satisfaction and prosperity."
"Congress and big oil companies colluded to reward risky behavior and lost their bet."
The economist who knows no history understands far less than his opposite number in the historical profession; but his claims are far greater. Therefore, he is much wider off the mark.
Money and wealth are distinct, and we should not assume that a fall in the stock indices necessarily means that "that money" has now been transferred someplace else.
"Oil was supposed to disappear by 1900. But the automatic conserving and incentive workings of the price system have repeatedly given the lie to these absurd projections."
Anderson's contribution to economic theory is summed up in his two books: Social Value and The Value of Money.
