For the Want of Bill Gates’s Money

Mises coined the term Fourier Complex in 1927 to describe the ends sought by those who dream of the world envisioned by Charles Fourier, the utopian socialist of the 19th century. Its sufferers desire equality in starvation rather than variation in plenty. So, how does the Fourier Complex play out in the national debate? Simple. Any report that details variations in wealth is greeted with the call for redistribution, an equalization of money and things — value — regardless of the cost. If we succumb to its siren song, the gravestone will read: “For the want of Bill Gates’s money, the world wrought its end.”

Brand Blanshard Takes a Swipe at Mises

Quoting:

An eminent economist writes: ‘The spheres of rational action and economic action are... coincident. All rational action is economic. All economic activity is rational action.’ And what is the end of economic activity? One’s own pleasure. ‘Action based on reason,’ goes on Professor von Mises, ‘action therefore which is only to be understood by reason, knows only one end, the greatest pleasure of the acting individual.’

Blanshard adds in a footnote:

The Decline of the Old Right

After the death of Taft and as the Eisenhower foreign policy began to take on the frozen Dullesian lineaments of permanent mass armament and the threat of “massive nuclear retaliation” throughout the globe, I began to notice isolationist sentiment starting to fade away, even among old libertarian and isolationist compatriots who should have known better.

Word for the day: fungible

Fungible means interchangeable. The word comes into play when (inter alia) earmarked funds end up in a general account. These funds are then free to be used for purposes other than intended. Example: You would like to go on a vacation but you have unpaid car repair bills. A wealthy uncle hears that you are having financial trouble and sends money to help. However, he would never have agree to pay for your vacation — he’s nice, but not that nice. Once your uncle’s money is deposited into your checking account, you are free to spend it as you please.

The Specter of Stagflation

If mainstream economists and market analysts’ predictions (wishes?) come true, and the US Federal Reserve lowers rates several times in the next few months, contrary to popular belief, things in the medium and long term will unequivocally get worse, writes David Saied. The upcoming events and the current Fed seem to be reminiscent of the early 1970s, where the Fed continuously “inflated” the money supply to fend off recession, therefore creating stagflation. A rising level of CPI “inflation” and higher unemployment — the so-called “misery index” — is quite possible. Unfortunately, in this centrally planned monetary system, only the Fed can know if stagflation will be allowed to show its ugly face again, wreaking the havoc it did in the awful 1970s.
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