More evidence that the military is slowly cutting itself off from civilian control by Fabius Maximus
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The Great Transformation: From the Welfare State to the Imperial Police State by Prof. James Petras | Global Research
10 comments:
Tom,
You might be interested in this
Find Out What Happened When a Federal Reserve Employee Questioned Unusual Currency Movements Before 9-11
Quote:
Bill Bergman-a former Federal Reserve (Chicago branch) economist and policy analyst, who has raised concerns about unusual currency transactions pre- 9-11----including billions in one hundred dollar bills, is the guest this week on the Robert Wenzel Show.
The military is perceived as needed in the middle east so as to in part ensure that the oil rich nations keep selling oil in dollars.
The "petro-dollar" is a consequence of fiat money needing some tangible backing for people to keep using it.
It's not a coincidence that the US invaded Iraq after Saddam threatened to stop selling oil in dollars. It's not a coincidence that the US invaded Afghanistan after the Taliban refused to allow a planned oil pipeline to be built from the Caspian basin. It is not a coincidence that the US ousted Gaddafi after he threatened to start selling oil in gold. It is not a coincidence that the US is now beating the war drums against Iran after Ahmadinejad threatened to stop selling oil in dollars.
Hey Tom,
Do you have any book recommendation for approaching the history of economics thought? … something that gives a fair explanation of the progression of the ideas and their authors, as they developed over time?
JK:
Do you have any book recommendation for approaching the history of economics thought? … something that gives a fair explanation of the progression of the ideas and their authors, as they developed over time?
I'll chime in and recommend the two volume "History of Economic Thought" by Murray Rothbard. You can download the pdf for free here
Note: Don't let the surtitle "An Austrian Perspective" mislead you into thinking it's not "fair." All historical interpretations ipso facto presuppose an a priori theory, whether the historian is consciously aware of it or not. Many historians interpret history using Marx's theory, others interpret it using Weber's theory, others interpret it using Christian/Catholic theory, while others, such as Rothbard, interpret history using a praxeological theory of goal seeking entities and their individual ideas that guided their actions.
Major,
thanks for the link and recommendation.
JK:"Do you have any book recommendation for approaching the history of economics thought? … something that gives a fair explanation of the progression of the ideas and their authors, as they developed over time?"
This is way out of my field, so I am not the one to ask about the best book. I like History of Economic Thought by Landreth and Colander and History of economic thought: A critical perspective by E. K Hunt. The first edition of Hunt is available inexpensively on the used market. The latest edition (2nd) is way expensive. Older editions of Landreth and Colander also available inexpensively. L & C presuppose more knowledge of economics than Hunt. It's an upper division course.
"History of Economic Thought" is the definitive critical text for courses in the history of economic thought. The text integrates the history of economic thought into the overall historical context from which it emerged. Specifically, it shows how the appearance of new theories was virtually always the result of heated debates on practical, political, social, and moral issues. E.K. Hunt provides in-depth theoretical and empirical analysis of the history of economic thought from the enlightenment to the present day. The volume examines theories of capitalism and the social and economic conditions that gave rise to them. Hunt shows that nearly all developments in the history of economic thought were responses to particular problems and circumstances. He shows, clearly, that economics is not, and has never been, value-free. "History of Economic Thought" remains a major contribution to the literature.
Robert Heilbroner is good, too. Older editions of The Making of Economic Thought are not expensive on the used market.
For used books search the bookfinder.com (search robot), Amazon, and Half.com for the best prices.
The 2 vol set of Murray Rothbard's Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought is available at Amazon in a Kindle edition for $5, which is a really good deal, thanks to the Mises Institute. Needless to say, Rothbard takes a very different angle in his approach to economic history, which provides an interesting contrast. Shows how there are many ways to view a subject, and Rothbard is up front about his way.
Most books on the history of economic thought are costly. If you have access to a university library, you could get an idea by looking a entry on a single economist you know quite a bit about and see what you think.
You are at UMKC, IIRC, so I would ask Randy or Michael Hudson about this, since they are both into econ history.
I also think that a good place to start is with the Wikipedia article on History of economic thought. Then work through the hypertext links. Most of the articles on economics have been vetted pretty thoroughly. And it's hard to beat free.
However, I think that it's necessary to have several books on economic thought available too in order to see the different ways of approach. I seldom read books like these from cover to cover but rather consult them to research specific things I am interested in at the time.
OOps. Didn't catch MF's link to free download of the MR 2 vol set before I recommended the Kindle, which itself is a good deal but not free. Thanks for the link, MF.
Lots of good info Tom. Thanks! Bookmarked.
Also.. you're memory is correct.. I'm at UMKC. I'll be taking Matt Forstater's course History of Economic Thought this Fall semester. EK Hunt's book is on its way in the mail, recommend by Forstater as a good introduction/preparation for the course.
*just looking to get a broad overview before entering his course this fall*
jk
it would be interesting to see if any of the historic thinkers covered in that course ever wrote within the context of endogenous 'money'.
all ive ever seen (with exception of del Mar h/t David) is these historic economists think in terms of exogenous 'money'. ALL blind in this regard...
rsp
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