Steve Bannon Dismisses Austrian Economics

[eleganz]

You guys don't need a repeat of why Austrianism is cool beans so just gonna quote Bannon's part and split.


https://mises.org/blog/steve-bannon-...rian-economics

What’s that Dostoyevsky line: Happy families are all the same, but unhappy families are unhappy in their own unique ways?” (He meant Tolstoy.) “I think the Democrats are fundamentally afflicted with the inability to discuss and have an adult conversation about economics and jobs, because they’re too consumed by identity politics. And then the Republicans, it’s all this theoretical Cato Institute, Austrian economics, limited government — which just doesn’t have any depth to it. They’re not living in the real world.

[CPUd]

Related:
Bannon calls for "trillion-dollar" public works projects "rebuild everything"

[undergroundrr]

And then the Republicans, it’s all this theoretical Cato Institute, Austrian economics, limited government

Wouldn't that be great?

[Suzanimal]

Deist schools him.

[jmdrake]

MAGA! MAGA! MAGA MAGA MAGA! Anyone who ever criticizes Trump is a hypocrite because....Hillary....because.....Obama....because ...Ron Paul voted to go after Al Qaeda in Afghanistan....Trump is above reproach....Trump supporters are gods.....we should all feel privileged they allow us to stay on the same planet....Trump could make the changes he needs if he could just impose martial law....MAGA! MAGA! MAGA MAGA MAGA!

[Murray N Rothbard]

Came here to post the article. Happy to see I was beaten to the punch.

Bannon is a joke, so is Trumpf.

[K466]

Wow no surprise I guess screw Bannon so glad I was not fooled into supporting Trump.

[Brian4Liberty]

And then there were the critics that said that Bannon is evil because he is an ancap...

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...cho-capitalist

[TheCount]

This is obvious; Bannon cannot possibly support Austrian economics because his national strategy relies on massive government deficit spending.

[TheCount]

And then there were the critics that said that Bannon is evil because he is an ancap...

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...cho-capitalist

By 'the critics' from your thread I presume you mean 'the one guy on Twitter.'

[CaptUSA]

I hope we're getting close to the tipping point - you know... where we can finally lay bare the fact the Trump was a con job all along and it won't be met with derision from those still suffering from the con.

I mean at some point, you'd think all these marks will finally admit it to themselves, right?

[MRK]

This is obvious; Bannon cannot possibly support Austrian economics because his national strategy relies on massive government deficit spending.

I thought this as well, based on his 'let's throw some stuff on the wall and see what sticks' (in the tune of trillions of dollars) comments.

But hasn't Trump decreased the debt so far[1]? Are there projections based on implemented budgets that indicate that will change?

[1] http://www.theobjectivenation.com/20...in-office.html

[dannno]

I hope we're getting close to the tipping point - you know... where we can finally lay bare the fact the Trump was a con job all along and it won't be met with derision from those still suffering from the con.

I mean at some point, you'd think all these marks will finally admit it to themselves, right?

Do you even know anybody who has been claiming Bannon is a libertarian?

[otherone]

Wouldn't that be great?

nah...needs more depth.

[UWDude]

I hope we're getting close to the tipping point - you know... where we can finally lay bare the fact the Trump was a con job all along and it won't be met with derision from those still suffering from the con.

I mean at some point, you'd think all these marks will finally admit it to themselves, right?

I don't believe in Austrian economics anymore. In fact, gold based currency always seemed a little funny and archaic to me. the world has changed, and the basis of currency has changed as well.

Plus, I take truth by how well people are able to predict. I heard there was supposed to be massive inflation, and I even said there would be.
There wasn't. Gold and silver did not skyrocket.

There has to be a point when you admit you don;t understand economics as much as you think you do.

As I said, a lot of paupers on a board claiming to understand economics.

Furthermore, whenever holes in austrian logic is pointed out, or examples of failings, it's either the old "real austrian economics haven;t been practiced" or "geeze, we need to change this and that too for austrian economics to work"

So no, sorry, I really just don't buy the hoopla anymore, and I stopped a couple of years ago, and went back to my original thoughts about money, which is the value of money, and the prices associated with it, is simply the goods and services that can be obtained by it, divided by the number of dollars there are. Money is a paper representative of cars and electronics and oil and massages and manicures. There is no need to base it on one commodity when there are so many other commodities.

[dannno]

I don't believe in Austrian economics anymore. In fact, gold based currency always seemed a little funny and archaic to me. the world has changed, and the basis of currency has changed as well.

Plus, I take truth by how well people are able to predict. I heard there was supposed to be massive inflation, and I even said there would be.
There wasn't. Gold and silver did not skyrocket.

There has to be a point when you admit you don;t understand economics as much as you think you do.

As I said, a lot of paupers on a board claiming to understand economics.

Furthermore, whenever holes in austrian logic is pointed out, or examples of failings, it's either the old "real austrian economics haven;t been practiced" or "geeze, we need to change this and that too for austrian economics to work"

So no, sorry, I really just don't buy the hoopla anymore, and I stopped a couple of years ago, and went back to my original thoughts about money, which is the value of money, and the prices associated with it, is simply the goods and services that can be obtained by it, divided by the number of dollars there are. Money is a paper representative of cars and electronics and oil and massages and manicures. There is no need to base it on one commodity when there are so many other commodities.

The US is able to export inflation because we hold the reserve currency of the world. The Austrians are right, when the dollar isn't the reserve currency anymore, all of those exported dollars are going to come flowing back here and inflation will skyrocket. What the Austrians have predicted has not come true - yet - that doesn't mean they are wrong.

[UWDude]

The US is able to export inflation because we hold the reserve currency of the world. The Austrians are right, when the dollar isn't the reserve currency anymore, all of those exported dollars are going to come flowing back here and inflation will skyrocket. What the Austrians have predicted has not come true - yet - that doesn't mean they are wrong.

and then American property will plummet in actual value, be it in 2017 dollars or 2024 dollars. People will pay poff their debts easily with inflated currency, yada yada yada. Dollars are just numbers.

Or the American dollar may remain the reserve currency for the next 200 years. I think forecasting economics is a chumps game, (one I and most here played). made soley to make the predictor look a fool. Peter Schiff was cool in 2008, when he was right, (after 10 years of saying the same thing). 9 years later, most of his predictions after 2008 have failed horribly. I was subscribed to his youtube, and watched them, for years.

[Brian4Liberty]

By 'the critics' from your thread I presume you mean 'the one guy on Twitter.'

Do you even know anybody who has been claiming Bannon is a libertarian?

The problem Bannon and Bosie zero in on is the idea that government should intervene in capitalism to level the playing field for those who would otherwise be subjected to exclusion and marginalization [ie. they don't want government to intervene. - B4L] What they are suggesting is that true capitalism that leads to the survival of the fittest is best. In their view, our form of self-government has no obligation to the commonwealth.

That kind of thinking (and this rationalization for what happened in the lead-up to the Great Recession) is not new for conservatives or Republicans. But it stems from the same libertarianism within that party that was the basis for the policies of Ron Paul and his son, Sen. Rand Paul.
...
http://washingtonmonthly.com/2016/11...nalist-agenda/

This is a common attack that has been used on libertarians, Ron Paul and yes, even Steve Bannon. "If you want capitalism or unregulated markets of any kind, you are a heartless, evil bastard that wants the law of the jungle and survival of the fittest. You want people to die."

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

By 'the critics' from your thread I presume you mean 'the one guy on Twitter.'

And probably people like you.

[AuH20]

Bannon is still the only reason I support Trump. He sees the big picture with the deconstruction of the administrative state as well as being informed in Strauss-Howe theory. I'm not going to quibble if he takes a shot at the practicality of Austrian economics, on the account it's never been formally adopted by a nation.

[AuH20]

This is obvious; Bannon cannot possibly support Austrian economics because his national strategy relies on massive government deficit spending.

I think Bannon sees that a spoiled, immature populace is not going to peacefully transition from the veritable orgy of Keynesian spending to the cold impersonal calculations of Austrian economics. That's what he is saying. People can barely understand the principles behind balancing a checkbook and we're going to teach them about praxeology and the business cycle?

[Jamesiv1]

MAGA! MAGA! MAGA MAGA MAGA! MAGA! MAGA! MAGA MAGA MAGA!

fixed that for you.

[Jamesiv1]

The US is able to export inflation because we hold the reserve currency of the world. The Austrians are right, when the dollar isn't the reserve currency anymore, all of those exported dollars are going to come flowing back here and inflation will skyrocket. What the Austrians have predicted has not come true - yet - that doesn't mean they are wrong.

I think we're going to have our own version of Germany's hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic (during the 1920's)

Ron Paul always says Rome fell not militarily, but economically. My money says it was the same hyperinflation.

Everything old is new again.

kids playing with money instead of wooden blocks:


money was cheaper than firewood, so that is what they used:


going to the grocery store for a loaf of bread:


money to start up the stove:


Hitler didn't want to get rid of the Jews, he wanted to get rid of the guys he held responsible for destroying Germany's economy (the bankers), who just happened to be Jewish (or claimed to be).

#MAGA
#FakeJews

[ThePaleoLibertarian]

All he seems to be saying is that libertarian types tend to dance in the realm of ideals as opposed to putting the rubber to the road and actually understanding what it takes to rule. I've read almost every libertarian thinker of note and the perennial problem with almost all of them is this: they do not understand power, and even worse, they have no desire to and mistake their inability or unwillingness to understand it as some sort of virtue. Who needs to understand power when you can just "smash the state", right? Say what you want about Milton Friedman, but at least he was willing to create libertarian-friendly policies that would be somewhat more palatable to the masses.

Bannon, like all Machiavellians before him, understands power, and the cyclical nature of history. This is (apparently) a guy who reads Strauss and Burnham and Moldbug, among others. He is far more intellectually curious than the vast, vast majority of people who have been in the White House at any point in history. His desire to unmake the federal agencies is well known, but he's smart enough to know that you can't do that by running around talking about gold and how private charity will take care of everyone. Political idealism is the folly of fools who either have no desire or capacity to run a civilization.

Until libertarians study power the way they study economics, what economic theories they champion will be irrelevant. Until then, they'll never have the ability to set any economic policy, let alone an Austrian one.

[TheCount]

I think Bannon sees that a spoiled, immature populace is not going to peacefully transition from the veritable orgy of Keynesian spending to the cold impersonal calculations of Austrian economics. That's what he is saying. People can barely understand the principles behind balancing a checkbook and we're going to teach them about praxeology and the business cycle?

#1: Which of Bannon's expensive policies would he not pursue "if only the poor, ignorant people could handle it"?

#2: You don't need to understand the technical workings of the market in order to operate in it any more than you need to understand the technical workings of your microwave in order to warm up a Hot Pocket.

[Suzanimal]