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Monday, December 3, 2018
Brad DeLong — Margaret Thatcher Against Friedrich von Hayek's Pleas for a Lykourgan Dictatorship in Britain: Hoisted from the Archives
Instructive. Margaret Thatcher may have been a neoliberal but she was not a fascist.
As if it's been a secret that libertarians want to abolish all special privileges of trade unions. And corporations etc.... What a discovery! Duh. And abolishing the initiation of political violence is just like what existed in ancient Sparta, right? People know they are lying when they refuse to engage their opponents.
It now turns out, according to Hayek scholar Bruce Caldwell, that there is no preceding letter from Hayek to Thatcher, as many of us had assumed. So we don’t know what exactly it was that Hayek said that elicited this response from Thatcher. Caldwell speculates, in an email to John Quiggin that I was copied on, that Thatcher may have been remarking here upon comments that Hayek might have made—about the need for Thatcher to abolish the “special privileges” of trade unions in Britain (as Pinochet had done in Chile)—at a dinner on February 2.
"Instructive. Margaret Thatcher may have been a neoliberal but she was not a fascist."
That depends on your definition of "fascist."
For me a fascist is someone who wants everything in society to be oriented toward some goal or ideology. Since the neoliberal goal or ideology is to have everything and everyone owned by rich oligarchs, I call neoliberals fascists.
Thatcher wrote that, “In Britain with our democratic institutions and the need for a high degree of consent, some of the measures adopted in Chile are quite unacceptable.”
That is, Thatcher loved Pinochet’s blood-soaked neoliberal dictatorship, but UK fascism requires that the peasants be given an illusion of choice. UK neoliberalism requires a bullshit veneer of “democracy.”
Fascism camouflaged with bullshit is still fascism.
But I am certain we shall achieve our reforms in our own way and in our own time. Margarette Thatcher
The problem is that Thatcher did not start with eliminating welfare for the banks and, by extension, the rich, the most so-called "credit worthy" of what is currently, in essence, the PUBLIC'S CREDIT but for private gain.
Then they will endure. Margaret Thatcher
Having failed to start at the right end of the problem, welfare for the banks and the rich, Margaret Thatcher has discredited the very ideas she sought to promote - not all of which were bad.
As if it's been a secret that libertarians want to abolish all special privileges of trade unions. Bob Roddis
By opposing inexpensive fiat, you would hinder or prevent the entire population from using it - thereby implicitly privileging banks and their "funny money."
As if it's been a secret that libertarians want to abolish all special privileges of trade unions. And corporations etc.... What a discovery! Duh. And abolishing the initiation of political violence is just like what existed in ancient Sparta, right? People know they are lying when they refuse to engage their opponents.
ReplyDeleteIt now turns out, according to Hayek scholar Bruce Caldwell, that there is no preceding letter from Hayek to Thatcher, as many of us had assumed. So we don’t know what exactly it was that Hayek said that elicited this response from Thatcher. Caldwell speculates, in an email to John Quiggin that I was copied on, that Thatcher may have been remarking here upon comments that Hayek might have made—about the need for Thatcher to abolish the “special privileges” of trade unions in Britain (as Pinochet had done in Chile)—at a dinner on February 2.
https://tinyurl.com/yb4e7knc
"Instructive. Margaret Thatcher may have been a neoliberal but she was not a fascist."
ReplyDeleteThat depends on your definition of "fascist."
For me a fascist is someone who wants everything in society to be oriented toward some goal or ideology. Since the neoliberal goal or ideology is to have everything and everyone owned by rich oligarchs, I call neoliberals fascists.
Thatcher wrote that, “In Britain with our democratic institutions and the need for a high degree of consent, some of the measures adopted in Chile are quite unacceptable.”
ReplyDeleteThat is, Thatcher loved Pinochet’s blood-soaked neoliberal dictatorship, but UK fascism requires that the peasants be given an illusion of choice. UK neoliberalism requires a bullshit veneer of “democracy.”
Fascism camouflaged with bullshit is still fascism.
But I am certain we shall achieve our reforms in our own way and in our own time. Margarette Thatcher
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that Thatcher did not start with eliminating welfare for the banks and, by extension, the rich, the most so-called "credit worthy" of what is currently, in essence, the PUBLIC'S CREDIT but for private gain.
Then they will endure. Margaret Thatcher
Having failed to start at the right end of the problem, welfare for the banks and the rich, Margaret Thatcher has discredited the very ideas she sought to promote - not all of which were bad.
As if it's been a secret that libertarians want to abolish all special privileges of trade unions. Bob Roddis
ReplyDeleteBy opposing inexpensive fiat, you would hinder or prevent the entire population from using it - thereby implicitly privileging banks and their "funny money."