WSJ interview with Michele Bachmann of Minnesota:
“I love von Mises… When I go on vacation and I lay on the beach, I bring von Mises.”
Source link: http://archive.mises.org/17263/mises-not-just-for-vacations-but-its-a-start/
The Ludwig von Mises Institute
Tu Ne Cede Malis
Advancing the Scholarship of Liberty in the Tradition of the Austrian School
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I don’t get why she attributed the cause of the recent crisis “first and foremost” to the community Reinvestment act if she’s really such a big fan.
I was at a Tea Party meeting where von Mises came up. MB knows a lot about him. Unlike the rest of us, MB is a practical politician, who has to do what she can do in a statist left-wing environment. Obama and the rest of the pols have never even heard of von Mises.
“MB is a practical politician, who has to do what she can do in a statist left-wing environment.”
Leave this sort naive thinking back at the Ron Paul Forums. It’s most likely that she’s name-dropping to make herself look more respectable in the eye’s of Ron Paul’s fan base. It’s like Romney preaching the virtues of Regan to secure more votes. This is nothing new.
Hmm, that’s the policy that began the housing bubble is it not? O_o
Hmm…no it isn’t. See the 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act for more information.
The contents of Rep. Bachmann’s website make it clear that, if she has ever read Mises, he has had no influence on her whatsoever.
Bachmann is a neoconservative politician & former IRS government lawyer– that she brings von Mises readings to the beach is literally incredible. She routinely says incredible things; why is it of interest in this blog, among all other possible topics today ?
As a very strong advocate of the “FAIR TAX” {national sales tax}, she seems to accept little of Mises or Austrian economics. She is fiscally conservative only for government programs she dislikes… but loves spending Trillions on foreign wars & imperialism. If you liked and trusted George Bush Jr — then you’ll love Michelle B.
(Note that her interviewer for this referenced WSJ article– Stephen Moore– was the senior economist of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee under Chairman Dick Armey of Texas. There, he was also an architect of the Armey flat tax proposal in 1995… and also part of the team that originally created the “Fair Tax”)
BS. I will never forget the day earlier this year when there was a vote for renewal of the patriot act and I was looking for who voted for it. While searching for it I saw an article where Bachmann was speaking at a rally and said she was scared because Obama was taking freedoms away. Later that day, she voted to extend the patriot Act. I have never believed a word she has said since.
What Austrian economics has to do with the Patriot act? Or maybe you think that she is not a good Austrian because she does not denounce “American imperialism”?
That was not my point. My point was she is a damned liar. She said she was afraid of all the liberties Obama was taking away, yet later that day she voted to give him more power to take away our liberties. She is a liar. I dont believe a word she says about reading Mises
If you are adherent of Austrian economics, the only excuse for supporting the Patriot Act is that you understand the bad things it will do and approve of them.
Well a good Austrian would recognise that the free market can only operate when self ownership and thus property rights are respected. When they are not the market is distorted, artificial time preferences, moral hazards and other such nasties that prohibit a ‘spontaneous order’ from arising are created.
Even if an Austrian economist hated people and hated freedom they’d have to agree on a practical basis that imperialism is to be rejected for the sake of the market operating.
People confound Austrian Economics with libertarianism. They are two different things.
Yes, but even on the economic issues it’s not like she’s actively engaging in “Austrian” solutions
What a weak attempt to pander to those of us that actually have not only read Mises, but live what he taught!
She should take the “Are you an Austrian” Quiz on Mises.org and prove that she reads Mises!
That’s actually a great idea. Have politicians take that test.
It should be a prerequisite for voting as well
Anyone who votes clearly has not read anything Austrian-Libertarian either. I saw a t-shirt: “Voting: The Slave’s Suggestion Box.”
I still vote because I feel compelled to protect not myself, but those around me who don’t know what’s going on. The lesser of two evils isn’t much of a choice (though we’ve had some local libertarian candidates who’ve made good showings where I live), but it’s still a choice.
It’s a start! Would you rather she say “Lord Keynes was an economic genius?”
Perhaps she meant that she brings something from the Mises Institute’s new line of home and garden products. The complete quote was:
“I love von Mises Pure Gold SPF-100 Tanning Lotion. Before I show off my capital structure, I want the best protection I can get from the sun’s harmful rays. When I go on vacation and I lay on the beach, I bring von Mises.”
LOL!!!
“The contents of Rep. Bachmann’s website make it clear that, if she has ever read Mises, he has had no influence on her whatsoever.”
I agree completely, which is why I call bullshit on Bachmann. What pandering lunatic this woman is.
LOL!
She must not spend much time at the beach.
I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she’s never been to the beach. Then technically she’s not lying.
She is a pure opportunist.
Agreed.
But no surprise, of course.
It’s part and parcel the job description.
Who the F uses “von” Mises? She’s obviously pandering. I would be surprised if she’s ever read Mises – or Rothbard, or Hoppe for that matter.
She looked good at St. Anselm’s College last night. And looking good is half the battle.
Makes me wonder how she looks on that beach in a bathing suit.
Ron Paul looked awkward, with that aging hunch of the shoulders, probably not good in a bathing suit.
He’s certainly read (and believes in) _Human Action_. But nobody cares.
Pity.
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