The Austrians were Right

House.gov ^ | 11/20/08 | Ron Paul

[ovrtaxt]

"The basic problem is that proponents of big government require a central bank in order to surreptitiously pay bills without direct taxation. Printing needed money delays the payment. Raising taxes would reveal the true cost of big government, and the people would revolt. But the piper will be paid, and that's what this crisis is all about."

[dfwgator]

Depends on which “Austrian” you’re referring, there was one Austrian, I think his name was “Shickelgruber” who very wrong.

[padre35]

Ron Paul is correct, of course no one will listen to the man.

I disagreed with Paul’s views on the Iraq War, but I liked his other positions, he is right far more often then he is wrong, we the people ignore him to our peril.

[mnehring]

He may want to clarify that he is referring to the “Austrian School of Economics”. The way he put it, it seems to imply it is Austria’s form of economics, it isn’t..I’m not sure of any first world country that follows the Austrian School. Also, he always fails to point out that the Austrian School theory does not eliminate recessions, inflation, deflation, etc. At that, the Mises/Hayek Business Model Theory specifically states there will be inflation, deflation, recessions depressions that happen, and must happen, as market regulators.

[EagleUSA]

“Raising taxes would reveal the true cost of big government, and the people would revolt. But the piper will be paid, and that’s what this crisis is all about.”
::::::::::::
So the Marxists make their move — as Obama’s little squirrel said, “We must take advantage of this crisis...”

[garbanzo]

Prosperity without work is a dream of the ages.

What could have been...but the my way or the highway folks would have none of it.

[Pharmboy]

As the Germans like to say, the two greatest achievements of the Austrians in the 20th Century were convincing the world that Hitler was a German and Beethoven was an Austrian.

[garbanzo]

I disagreed with Paul’s views on the Iraq War

You know what the irony is, that we're going to pull of Iraq anyway within a couple of years but that's all anyone could see during the primary season.

[Travis McGee]

"There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved."

-~~Ludwig Von Mises

[hamburglar]

Ron Paul is such a loon that even when he speaks the truth nobody listens.(IMHO)

[Longtom]

I like Winston Churchills observations on the Germans:”The Hun is either at your throat or at your feet’’.

[mnehring]

Ron Paul is correct, of course no one will listen to the man.

The problem is, what do you listen to.. he has every level of warning, from this which is pretty sound, although he is missing a few pieces of information from the Austrian school that are important.. or his warnings about 'pinkback' currency, currency with tracking chips, the trilateral commission control, the buildberger's running banks, amero currency, etc, etc.. reminds me of that freeper that was around a few years ago, willie something... he made hundreds of different predictions of economic catastrophe. When you shoot a shotgun at a dartboard, eventually one of the pellets will hit the bulls eye.

[Mr. Jeeves]

It’s like an adult talking to room full of pre-schoolers - most of Congress doesn’t even possess the intellectual tools to understand what Ron Paul is saying.

[Travis McGee]

Obviously, in this context (macroeconomics), “Austrians” refers the Austrian school of economics.

Only a total boob would be confused by this, so it’s not worth bringing up that fellow with the small mustache.

[ari-freedom]

he’s obviously not the greatest spokesman for his cause

[milwguy]

If you want a primer on Austrian Economics,,,,here is a link...http://www.mises.org/etexts/austrian.asp

Ludwig Von Mises and Frederick Hayek were probably the two most prominent 20th century economists who espoused the Austrain school thought.

Ron Paul sometimes channels Von Mises when he talks about paper money. One of my favorite Mises quotes is ‘Gov’t is the only entity that can take a valuable commodity like paper and render it worthless merely by apply ink’

Hillsdale college in Michigan houses all of Mises original works and my son is studying economics there. His professors have some interesting thoughts on what our gov’t is doing currently.

[mnehring]

It wasn't as much that he was against it, it was why he was against it.. it is the opposition to the principle of American exceptionalism. He took the stance that the US is the cause of the world's problems. That is a principle difference, far more than just a difference on the issue.

[econjack]

It is unimaginable that Congress could be so derelict in its duty.

Congress is not being derelict...they know exactly what they are doing...they are buying votes, pure and simple. They know, as shown by Obama's victory, that if you make enough promises, there are enough stupid people to buy into it and put you in office. Once in, you must promise even more.

The Fed does have a meaningful role to play and it's not by accident that the greatest free market economist in the world (Milton Friedman) was a monetarist. However, the Fed has lost its focus and has assumed that monetary policy is a one-size-fits-all solution to all problems. Not true. Coherent monetary and fiscal policy are necessary. Obama understands neither.

[Moonman62]

Ron Paul is correct, of course no one will listen to the man.

He's a crackpot. Free markets and Austrian economics aren't sufficiently defined or tested in the real world.

[mnehring]

The problem with the Mises Institute, is it was started by Lew Rockwell as a shadow way to promote his conspiracy theories.. Not by economists as a way to promote sound economic principles.

http://mises.org/about.aspx

Rockwell and his former Bircher ilk have hijacked the Austrian school discussion for their own purposes.