Patenting Language
It never ends. Here’s an effort by Microsoft to patent a “Method and system for selecting and conjugating a verb.” The first claim reads:
1.
Klein’s Judgment on Kirzner’s Alertness
I’ve noted previously disagreement with various aspects of Hayek’s knowledge problem (Knowledge vs. Calculation) and other Hayekian terms (such as “spontaneous”, see p. 68 of Knowledge, Calculation, Conflict, and Law)--terms that make my praxeological trigger finger itchy, so to speak.
Does the Market Commodify Everything?
It is not an unusual argument: the free market allegedly “commodifies” everything, and reduces all of life to a matter of dollars and cents. But Thomas Woods asks: is that really what the market does? Actually, the market is merely a descriptive term of the voluntary exchanges that take place in society. It is the state that uses all people and things without regard to preferences, right, and mutual agreement. the individual has no recourse other than to accept whatever the state determines with regard to how much of his property will be expropriated, what his children will be taught in school, or where he must be sent to fight and die.
The Hoppeian Way
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in Political Economy and Philosophy. Second Edition. By Hans-Hermann Hoppe. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2006. Xii + 433 pgs.
Hans Hoppe is a thinker of striking originality, and this excellent collection of his essays is filled with arguments: it is, as my great teacher Walter Starkie used to say, “packed with matter.” I shall confine myself to a few of his points, but it would be an easy task to write several other reviews, each emphasizing completely different arguments.
Three New Deals: Why the Nazis and Fascists Loved FDR
Critics of Roosevelt’s New Deal often liken it to fascism, writes David Gordon. Roosevelt’s numerous defenders dismiss this charge as reactionary propaganda; but as Wolfgang Schivelbusch makes clear in Three New Deals, it is perfectly true. Moreover, it was recognized to be true during the 1930s, by the New Deal’s supporters as well as its opponents. The Nazi press enthusiastically hailed the early New Deal measures. Mussolini, who did not allow his work as dictator to interrupt his prolific journalism, wrote a glowing review of Roosevelt’s Looking Forward.
Preface to What Has Government Done to Our Money?
[This article is also available for podcast or download, read by Jeff Riggenbach.]
It has been said that the time of universal scholars ended long ago. There can be no more brilliant minds that develop vast systems of thought and produce top quality work across a range of disciplines. For such thinkers, we are told, there is neither supply nor demand.
The Justice and Prudence of War: Toward A Libertarian Analysis
Note: A rough 2003 draft of this article was mistakenly published in Reason Papers no. 28 (Spring 2006) instead of the finished 2006 version. This is the correct, final version.
The Austrian Business Cycle in the FT
Chris Coyne draws our attention to this nice story in the Financial Times.
Only Technology (and Economic Education) Can Save Us
Manuel Lora’s recent article highlighted the importance of economic education. I’ve long believed the single most important thing we can do is to foster liberty is to promote economic literacy. (I made this point in Why are Austrians Libertarians? and in this interview by Alberto Mingardi.) Why are economic education and economic literacy so important?
The Party of Vacuous Rhetoric
Yes, the LP platform was gutted, writes Lew Rockwell. It’s the result of a brain drain from the LP that has been going on for decades. The smart set, if it exists in the LP, is a tiny and demoralized minority. The archetypical LP activist today has a very thin knowledge base from which to draw. He is a child and the LP is his sandbox.
