Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Bill Black Offers Up A Ringing (dis)-Endorsement of Austrian Economics

commentary by Roger Erickson

For those who failed to see it, this entire post was meant as sarcasm.

Those endorsing austerity of thinking will, of course, disagree ... at least to the best of their meager calculation abilities.

European views on financial regulation (and other American evils)
It's a nicely phrased article. Can the rest of us get on with the immediate problem of surfing modern, rapidly scaling operations ... with agility, not just austerity?

If you want to foster an intelligent conversation, and see it grow, by getting away from the austere median IQ-block, where do you have to go? There are two options, that can be used in parallel. Invite ourselves elsewhere, or dis-invite or discourage the knuckle-draggers from dragging down every attempt at productive public discourse.

There is a better way, so let's find it.

16 comments:

SchittReport said...

roger, can you please explain how his piece is a 'ringing endorsement of austrian economics'???

Anonymous said...

??

y said...

What does "surfing modern, rapidly scaling operations" mean?

Roger Erickson said...

SR

"'ringing endorsement of austrian economics'???"

Sorry, thought the sarcasm was obvious. I'll change the title, for those lacking that faculty. :)

Roger Erickson said...

y said...
"What does "surfing modern, rapidly scaling operations" mean?"

Lord have mercy! It means just what it says? What else could it mean?

Fine, here's a tutorial on parsing the English language.

You can imagine surfing rapidly scaling waves in a growing storm?

Now substitute "unpredictable waves of human operations", still following?

Now reduce to "operations"

Y'all need to get out more often.

Bob Roddis said...

Please explain where Mr. Black (or any MMTer) has demonstrated the slightest familiarity with Austrian economics. You can't. No such examples exist in this galaxy.

y said...

ok it makes more sense now. Thanks

paul meli said...

"…Austrian economics…"

I believe this is properly referred to as an oxymoron.

"Please explain where Mr. Black (or any MMTer) has demonstrated the slightest familiarity with Austrian economics."

Nor have you - the key word being economics.

Bob, you are getting zero traction here. Do you commonly crash parties you aren't invited to?

You don't engage in discussion. It leads me to believe you don't exist. Are you a computer programmed to drop Austrian talking points in response to comments?

y said...

Thanks to you Bob, I've learnt quite a bit about (your interpretation of) it. Let me try and repeat what I've learnt from you...

1. Fiat money is theft and fraud and violence and the cause of all economic problems.

2. If the government stopped meddling in the economy there would be no economic problems.

3. Keynesians are depraved Leninists who want to destroy the world.

4. Money should be created privately and people should be free to create whatever kind of money they want. But they mustn't create credit money. They must only use gold or silver. If they don't then everything will fall apart.

5. the government is to be blamed for everything.

Is that about right?

Bob Roddis said...

y: The key concepts are the protection of private property in things and your own body and the prohibition upon the initiation of force and the prohibition of fraud. English common law. What's the big deal about that?

1. Is true because, if the government mandates that it has a monopoly upon the issuance of money, it is using the threat of violence and it is facilitating the theft of purchasing power when it gives new money to anyone.

2. To the extent the government does more than protect people and their things from criminals and assaults, that is true. The problem that has always haunted mankind is murder, theft, plunder, genocide, rape etc...., not a "lack of aggregate demand. Further, monopolies do not naturally occur on the market, companies require government favors to drive out competitors. See Gabriel Kolko, "The Triumph of Conservatism".

3. MMTers are as dumb and arrogant as Lenin. The do not understand the essential role played by prices and believe that they can manage "the economy" via a bureaucracy which follows their wacky invasive policies. Their policies will lead to central control and, in fact, promote central government control of everything and everyone. Their willy nilly issuance of new fiat funny money will distort prices and make economic calculation and planning impossible.

4. I have no idea what you mean by "credit money". People should be allowed to create whatever money others will accept without fraud. I believe that such money will tend to be gold and silver, but to each his own.

5. To the extent government worries about things other than protection life, liberty and property, especially that of the weak and powerless (the powerful ALWAYS have such protection), yes, governments, as agents of assaultive behavior, can be blamed for most all societal problems.

Septeus7 said...

Quote from Bob Robbis:

"1. Is true because, if the government mandates that it has a monopoly upon the issuance of money, it is using the threat of violence and it is facilitating the theft of purchasing power when it gives new money to anyone."

Wrong. The government only mandates that you give back it's IOUs that you willing accepted when you did something to incur a tax liability. It doesn't facilitate the theft of purchasing power any more than a grocery issuing coupons and redeeming is stealing purchasing power from other grocers.

People who refuse to pay taxes are stealing purchasing power by refusing relinquish the IOUs they hold from the issuer and continue claim credit should canceled the the liability.

Bob Robbis is the one using violence to prevent people from using government credit i.e. democratically created community credit and believes in forcing everyone to only be able to use notes backed by a private supply of metal owned by a oligarchy. Bob believes in using guns and fraud to force everyone only oligarch gold can be used create credit in a market.

Quote from Bob: "2. To the extent the government does more than protect people and their things from criminals and assaults, that is true. The problem that has always haunted mankind is murder, theft, plunder, genocide, rape etc...., not a "lack of aggregate demand. Further, monopolies do not naturally occur on the market, companies require government favors to drive out competitors. See Gabriel Kolko, "The Triumph of Conservatism"."

Bob Robbis defines "meddling in the economy" as whatever Bob personally doesn't like. If Bob wants to sell a worthless credit default swap he believes that any initiation of force by government to restrict his "freedom" is what causes economic problems not that Bob is selling worthless crap.

The biggest problem that haunted mankind is mammonism i.e. love of gold, silver and other idols that devalue the true source of value found in your fellow human beings. Belief in Mammon cause folks to internally justify "murder, theft, plunder, etc..." because they have an exogenous view of value.

Bob wants us to believe that human problems are without causes and that violence just happens.

(continues)

Septeus7 said...

Quote: "3.MMTers are as dumb and arrogant as Lenin. The do not understand the essential role played by prices and believe that they can manage "the economy" via a bureaucracy which follows their wacky invasive policies. Their policies will lead to central control and, in fact, promote central government control of everything and everyone. Their willy nilly issuance of new fiat funny money will distort prices and make economic calculation and planning impossible."

Insults and lies. Bob's insistence that only his personal idea of a private gold money should be basis of all market credit transaction is what actually drives centralization. A metalist standard concentrates wealth and control by definition which why folks like J.P. Morgan called gold "sound money" because it was soundly in their centralized control.

Quote: " 4. I have no idea what you mean by "credit money". People should be allowed to create whatever money others will accept without fraud. I believe that such money will tend to be gold and silver, but to each his own."

So Bob Robbis finally admits he is the one who "doesn't have the slightest idea of basic concepts of MMT" to borrow his favorite phasing.

People are currently allowed to create and except whatever money they want without fraud and they choose dollars because they understand if then want to pay a public liability or settle a penalty ruled against them by a public court they must have dollars. Gold would be last thing on Earth any rational person would use to settle accounts.

There is NO GREATER example of government imposed fiat meddling with markets than the use of an very rare metal like gold.

Quote: "5. To the extent government worries about things other than protection life, liberty and property, especially that of the weak and powerless (the powerful ALWAYS have such protection), yes, governments, as agents of assaultive behavior, can be blamed for most all societal problems."

I'm shocked. I actually agree with that statement. The only problem is by rigging the system toward concentrated wealth holding like land, capital or gold via a system of property "rights" you will always tilt the balance of power toward the holders of the majority of those things and by trying to protect property "rights" as the only duty of government you actually can only increase the police powers of the state.

Superstatist Bob wants to limit the public interest of the State using it's police power in the interest of property. Naturally the only result will be growth in the police state.

Real conservatives thought like Burke therefore attacked excessive concentration of merchant power and argued for limits market freedom. Bob Robbis won't read Danial Larison's blog at the American Conservative as to why the libertarians belief in "rights" is actually what causes big government because Bob Robbis know or is interested in what actual historical conservatives believed.

Why the hell would a Rothbard fan like Bob Robbis want to talk about the "triumph of conservatism" when the violent genocidalist, baby killing apologist psychopath Murray Rothbard openly said that he wanted to physically attack anyone who would suggest a alliance?

paul meli said...

"governments, as agents of assaultive behavior, can be blamed for most all societal problems."

In the absence of government we would merely have a different set of societal problems. No reason to think they wouldn't be worse.

paul meli said...

" 4. I have no idea what you mean by "credit money". People should be allowed to create whatever money others will accept without fraud. I believe that such money will tend to be gold and silver, but to each his own."

I submit that it is impossible for man to "create" gold and silver.

I too am in favor of counterfeiting money as long as I'm the only one allowed to do it (maybe some friends and family too).

SchittReport said...

ummmm, roger, can you please explain how his piece is a ringing (dis)-endorsement of austrian economics??? (for those w/o the faculties to process this information). isn't the theme of his piece about the difference approaches to tackling control fraud by geographic blocs?

is your commentary a type of control fraud by any chance???

SchittReport said...

*different