Comments on: The great debate: Smith and Murphy

By: Jeffrey Tucker

Jeffrey Tucker — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:18:48 +0000

Public Choice, ok, but it was Mises who wrote: “The planner is a potential dictator who wants to deprive all other people of the power to plan and act according to their own plans. He aims at one thing only: the exclusive absolute preeminence of his own plan.” Mises elaborates on the impossibility of realizing one will in a state. This was in the 1950s.

By: D Storey

D Storey — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 20:28:21 +0000

And, to follow up on your treatment of technology, I can read about the debate from the wine fest in Bernalillo, New Mexico, where I’d otherwise be relegated to making drunk small-talk with other tasters.

By: M.R. Orlowski

M.R. Orlowski — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 18:07:34 +0000

Wow, Jeffrey is getting his Public Choice on. Anyway, I’m very happy and thankful that you are going to put this debate online.

By: dennis the menace

dennis the menace — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 17:46:08 +0000

I believe that inflation is at the root of are economic problems. Simply because many business owners tend to under compensate their workers to some degree over time in relation to inflation which causes massive income inequality over time.

By: Bob Roddis

Bob Roddis — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 17:19:33 +0000

I love the hurricane analogy.

For 38 years, I’ve been asking progressives how it is possible for economic actors in the free market to be so dumb as to be stuck with an alleged “failure of aggregate demand” but at the same time be smart enough to elect economic overseers (backed up by SWAT teams) who are smart enough to fix the system. In fact, these dumb economic actors must be smart and wise enough to elect overseers who then allegedly have the wisdom, knowledge and ability to guide a hurricane.

By: Dave Albin

Dave Albin — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 15:04:00 +0000

I’ve often wondered about the downplaying of empirical evidence in Austrian economics. It seems to me that Austrians have tons of empirical evidence on their side (read Mises.org, for example). So, the hurricane example is good, but we can understand why (at least in part) they form in the first place. Austrians can clearly explain how economic bubbles form in the first place (when they burst seems tougher to forecast, and here the Austrian point of view seems right on – you can’t predict the destruction). Aren’t these things related by an understanding of empirical evidence (at least in terms of how problems form)?

By: Mickey T. Hobart

Mickey T. Hobart — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 21:16:17 +0000

I also liked the hurricane metaphor and am glad it is going online for everyone. Smith and Murphy were both pretty funny on their blogs about this so I was especially sad thinking I wouldn’t get to see them in action. . . .

By: Tyrone Dell

Tyrone Dell — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 20:03:34 +0000

You’re paying for premium access, and the possibility of having your questions answered live. Plus, its just damn cool to witness this stuff in real time.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:56:38 +0000

I can’t wait to see it, and re post it on facebook for all of friends who are crying for more FDR style spending …

By: Stephen MacLean

Stephen MacLean — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:48:02 +0000

Wonderful hurricane metaphor … Glad you’re putting the debate on-line!

By: Jeffrey Tucker

Jeffrey Tucker — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:44:54 +0000

Well, there are limits to what we can put online and we put hours of video online virtually every day. The hope in putting this one up is that it will promote more Academy involvement in the future. Sometimes people think that we have some great policy about everything we are doing but we are mostly just winging it day to day – doing our best to support these ideas, get them out there, and survive financially. There is no one fixed answer to how to do this.

By: EconAndre

EconAndre — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:27:43 +0000

I’m glad you’re putting it online. I thought you were not going to put this pay per view debate online. Why the change? Just curious.

By: Robert Fellner

Robert Fellner — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:12:27 +0000

Another fantastic innovation from the Mises Academy! Well done Jeff, sounds like it was a smashing success!