[Anarchism/Minarchism: Is a Government Part of a Free Country? Edited by Roderick T. Long and Tibor R. Machan. Ashgate, 2008. Xi + 196 pages. An MP3 audio version of this book review, read by Dr. Floy Lilley, is available for download.]
Friedrich A. Hayek was barely out of his twenties in 1929 when he published the German versions of the first two works in this collection, Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle and “The Paradox of Saving.” The latter article was a long essay that was to become the core of his celebrated book and the third work in this volume, Prices and Production, the publication of which two years later made him a world-renowned economist by the age of thirty-two. But the young Hayek did not pause to savor his success.
The recent collapse of financial giants Lehman and AIG have led to new calls for regulation. Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has proposed a six point plan to deal with the current financial situation. He believes that the government needs to “correct the incentives for executives” by requiring that bonuses be paid on five year returns, rather than on annual returns. We need a “financial products safety commission”.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that paying more in taxes is the patriotic thing to do for wealthier Americans. This is another example of our rulers attempting to brainwash us by re-defining taxation.
I previously criticized (2) the anti-market anarchists’ (”vandarchists”) breaking of Macy’s windows (and the apparent defense of this by even some left “market” anarchists).
Cato’s Twitter feed praises the “brilliant column from George F. Will today”. Brilliant? Was this brilliant–? “Bubbles will always be with us, because irrational exuberance always will be.” Oh, I see now why it’s brilliant–it mentions Cato by name, enlisting it in support of McCain:
“They called him the Gorilla - the brawler known as the scariest man on Wall Street,” writes the Times about Dick Fuld, head of Lehman, and the story tells of his rise and fall. Most striking is this portrait posted outside Lehman offices for staff to post their comments on.
Insightful and interesting comments by Cory Doctorow (and surprisingly sound, given that Doctorow unfortunately favors socialized medicine (see this Free Talk Live interview):
Why do you give away your books?
Giving away ebooks gives me artistic, moral and commercial satisfaction. The commercial question is the one that comes up most often: how can you give away free ebooks and still make money?
