Economic Fascism and the Bailout Economy

Mises Daily ^ | February 20, 2009 | Gary North

[oldtimer2]

Economic Fascism and the Bailout Economy

Gary North

I do not remember the dropping of the two atomic bombs in August of 1945. As symbols of scientific world transformation, this constituted the most momentous event of the 20th century. This breakthrough, so far, has not led to nuclear war, even though on several occasions, it looked as though nuclear war was a distinct possibility. Nevertheless, the arrival of the nuclear age heralded a transformation of the modern world. We have not yet seen the end of that transformation.

There have been two other major events since 1945. I suppose most people would agree on at least one of them: the collapse of the Soviet Union, August 19–21, 1991. While the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was the symbolic evidence of the collapse of the Soviet empire, it did not become clear until August of 1991. Historically, there has been nothing to match that disintegration. No empire that large ever collapsed that fast without bloodshed. I was here to see it.

The second event that I regard as almost comparable in importance to the collapse of the Soviet Union was the collapse of the American banking system that took place in September and October of 2008.

(snip)

What I am saying is this: this time it's different. This time the fractional-reserve banking system has shot its wad. It is begging for ever-larger handouts from the Treasury Department, which needs central-bank fiat money to bail out the economy. The public is accepting this grudgingly, and the academic economists are cheering, but the reality is that this time it's different. You had better adjust your portfolio, your career plans, and your retirement plans accordingly.

[oldtimer2]

This is a long article that I think has more things right than it has wrong. We need to discuss this and adjust our actions.

[stockpirate]

pnig

[Professor_Leonide]

I am a fan of Gary North’s writings.

[ml/nj]

Important article.

I find it particularly interesting that it comes down pretty hard on Milton Freedman, whose virtues Mark Levin was extolling yesterday.

Freedman was obviously a pretty good salesman for his ideas, and the audio clips that the Great One played yesterday were part of that. But I have always had trouble getting past Friedman's ideas about monetary theory and the Great Depression. I thought of these when I listened to those clips yesterday. This long article touches only peripherally on those thoughts, but it does say things that need to be pointed out about Milton Friedman.

ML/NJ

[rabscuttle385]

*Ping!*