Just when we [have] the strongest possible proof that Keynsianism doesn’t work, someone yells for an encore
– Commenter “J Cuttance” on the Telegraph
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Samizdata quote of the daySeptember 5th, 2011 |
 15 comments to Samizdata quote of the day |
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Is the missing verb after we ‘have’ or ‘ignore’? ‘bury’, maybe/
One could also substitute “socialism” in there as well. Some people care about evidence based methods of governance, some people don’t.
Quite so.
The enemy claim to be “empirical” (experience based) as opposed to nasty Austrian School people. Yet they ignore the evidence.
Indeed they do more than ignore it – the academic, media and (yes) financial elite, blatently LIE.
They claim that Western governments have not tried producing more funny money and wild government spending (“monetary and fiscal stimulus”) they even claim that Western governments have clung rigidly to free market policies such as a “fetish” for balanced budgets. And on and on – the dishonesty is breathtaking.
But it is not just Keynesianism.
Some of the elite (both academic, media and financial) are now openly citeing Karl Marx with approval – claiming that this ignorant man was a genius who was right about just about everything (with the exception, when such people as George Magnus are speaking, of Karl’s failure to suggest that governments should produce even more credit money – and give it to George Magnus and his banker friends).
Sadly the greed for more subsidies is not the only form of greed about – the greed for POWER is also on the march. Such court intellectuals as John Gray are now openly citeing Karl Marx also (most recenly on the vile BBC) – as part of their unholy Crusade against the very idea of human freedom.
To the academic elite (such as Dr Gray) human beings are not “beings” at all – our self awarness does not mean agency, there is (in any real sense) no “I”. We are incapble of making real choices and are, in fact, just mindless creatures – who need to be controlled (for our own good) by a wise elite who will dominate us in order to preserve “nature” (and so on).
This could be argued to be a lot more radical than Karl Marx. Indeed the devotion to Marx is sometimes just a pose – for example John Gray knows perfectly well that Karl’s claims that boom-busts under “capitalism” are “natural” is false, it just suits Dr Gray’s anti freedom purpose to LIE about such things.
Did Karl Marx deny the very capacity of human beings to make real choices (i.e. deny that humans were beings, agents, at all)? Some of his defenders would argue “no”.
Certainly Karl Marx did not argue against human progress and argue that worship of God should be replaced with a worship of mindless (and, therefore, pityless) nature.
Many of the modern elite (such as John Gray – so admired by George Soros and other such) hold exactly these positions.
A basic fact must be faced, this fact being that many of the modern elite are not just intellectually mistaken – they are evil.
They will lie and cheat (and do anything) to achieve their goal of the enslavement of humanity.
We’re neck deep in the Big Muddy and that fool keeps saying “Press on!”.
Perry, I don’t know whether you’re reading this, but I wanted to ask you something…
A week or two ago you made a quip about Estonia(Link). I’m a wannabe emigrant: Britain really doesn’t feel like home at all, anymore, and I see absolutely no hope for it politically — Socialism won the war a long time ago, in all parties and on all fronts. Moreover, the story’s pretty much the same across the EU (which seems to be the only place I can buy a house & work for myself without having to procure visas, etc..)
In desperation, I’d been looking at France — primarily because of the cheap cost of rural property (I’m a country boy), and the fact that I do have some French — but it seems, perversely enough, that the French state is anxious to discourage people from venturing into self-employment (the cotisations — NI-type social charges — on just a tin-pot little one-man operation are horrendous). I’d heard from a couple of sources that around 70% of French businesses fail in the first year. I decided I didn’t want to add to these statistics.
In despair I headed over to the Heritage Foundation and picked up this year’s Index(Link). After going through the top dozen or so European states and ruling out almost all (on various grounds, not only those of economics), I was left with Estonia. I’m still (fairly) young and I’d like to put down roots in a country which isn’t keen to tax, spend, and socialise itself down the toilet — and it looked as though I’d found a possibility at last.
So to my question… Do you (or does indeed anyone else out there) have friends with any experience of living & working in Estonia? I know it’s a bit of a backwater, but I imagine there might be someone out there who knows a friend of a friend, or whatever. I’ve Googled this site for references to Estonia, but there’s not that much in recent years (Natalija Radic had good things to say about it(Link), but that was nearly a decade ago). From what little I’ve been able to dig up online, it does look good (if one doesn’t mind long, dark, very cold winters and learning a difficult language) — does anyone here have any good sources of information on life over there?
I’d get a Lonely Planet or whatever, but it’s my experience that they’re all written by Leftists…
Thanks in anticipation,
Paul.
Perry, you should know by now that when it comes to these people, “evidence”, “proof” and “history” are all irrelevant. Only the purity of the theory matters.
Yes, I’m being ironic, considering where I’m posting this.
Paul H.
Estonia is not as free market as it was before it joined the E.U.
…No, I’d imagine not — but it still (at least as far as I can tell) looks pretty good.
And I’m rather desperate to get out of Cardiff… 🙁
Thanks, anyway.
…And for anyone interested, here’s why I decided against France.
I see that Australia and New Zealand rank very high (#3 and 4, respectively) in the Heritage Foundation Index, and both are obviously Anglo countries. Are you determined to remain in Europe, Paul H, or would you consider roaming farther afield?
And does anyone here have anything (positive or negative) to say about either as an emigration destination?
@Laird
Not resolutely determined — the chief reason for Europe is partly its proximity (I can drive my junk over there) but chiefly the ability to own property & earn a crust somewhere quiet without the headaches of having to obtain special permission from the state (the €vil €mpire must be good for something…). The cost of housing is also a major concern.
As for the other Anglo countries, I can’t afford ’em! (The only Anglophone country I’d be interested in would be the US — had I the money, a bolt-hole in Idaho would do me fine…)
Anyway, thanks for your reply. Since I’ve ground to a halt on the Estonian front, I’m off to see what I can find out about self-employment in Germany…
I for one would be interested in what you find and where you decide to go, Paul.
As an Australian, the place to be seems to be Western Australia. It is going through a mining boom. Plenty of people from Ireland are doing well over there, or so the papers tell us, with rags-to-riches as favourites. And plenty of people tell us that this boom will last a while yet, so the jobs should be good ones, in time.
If you really can’t afforf the trip, why not see what the Isle of Man is like? It is almost an independent country, and has its’ owm flag and government, and, so I have heard, very low taxes! (I’m going by what I heard on Top Gear a while back.)
Why, thank you, Laird! I’ll keep you posted of any interesting developments…
@’Nuke’
Yes, you’re right: it has indeed been something of a tax haven, and it has its own laws (nice tough ones, too — or at least they used to be). I looked into all things Manx a while back, and concluded that France was a better bet — until I learned more about how the French government views self-employment (something akin to how the British government views smoking). Thanks for the suggestion, anyway!