In contrast to the Keynesians and Friedmanites, Rothbard showed how Austrian economists can understand the stagflation phenomenon through price theory and capital theory. Interest rates must be raised in order to flush out malinvestments.
The literary accounts and studies of the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc, and Nazi Germany necessarily failed to grasp the root of the problem—namely, the psychopathological dimension of the inception and development of pathocracy.
States continue to seek new ways to make the financial system an “economic chokepoint” enabling the state to crack down on specific organizations, individuals, or activities.
All too often, people accept the state-sponsored "solution" to a perceived problem as the logical choice. But this "solution" really is a non sequitur.
Imposing sanctions will advance the reach of surveillance capitalism while strengthening the power of states to control the financial system overall. The end result will be a lower standard of living and a less free economy.
In many ways, the liberal democracy that had its roots in nineteenth-century liberalism seems to have run its course. Can we revive it, or does something more authoritarian take its place?
