Proudly delegitimizing the state since 2005
"Aye, free! Free as a tethered ass!" —W.S. Gilbert
"All the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and . . . the State should be abolished." —Benjamin Tucker
"You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." —James Madison
"Fat chance." —Sheldon Richman
Between the state and national governments, there has always been substantial regulation of money and banking in the United States.Read TGIF: "A Free Market in Banking? Not Even Close" here.
—Henry David Thoreau
"Free association . . . the only true form of society."
—Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
2 comments:
It's a very good critique. Unfortunately, most people do not go for all of that nuance and analysis and are swayed by superficial matters.
It is a big mistake to refer to what the State is doing in the economic sphere as "regulation", since it implies that the State is bringing order to the economy, when we know that (at least most of the time) it is doing just the opposite. After all, how can anyone be against economic order? We must challenge this perception at the level of language.
Hi Sheldon,
Another good article.
On a related note, in a recent episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV show, "Heroes On Both Sides", a major plot involves a vote by the Galactic Senate, on whether or not to deregulate the "Banking Clan". The problem, from a libertarian perspective, is that the "deregulation" is made out to be a bad thing (since the Banking Clan are bad guys - war profiteers). It's unfortunate because viewers (who aren't knowledgeable in libertarianism or Austrian economics) will come away thinking that only "bad" people want to deregulate banks.
It seems like a (no doubt, well-meaning) democrat decided to put his/her 2 cents into the current financial debate. What a missed opportunity!
http://www.starwars.com/video/view/001156.html
Richard G.
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