[Note - August 18, 2011: A full analysis of F.A. Hayek's theories will be covered in my economics blog]
Fox News: Battle Over Union Rights Hits Airwaves (An introduction to the "Not - Breaking News")
One of the challenges in understanding the conservative and liberal split (that includes the current argument over unions) is to understand that the reason for all this animosity is an underlying belief in a way of life (which includes an outdated economic-political philosophy).
Covert Operations by Jane Mayer
The following are extracts with my emphasis and links (read the whole article here):
Members of the John Birch Society developed an interest in a school of Austrian economists who promoted free-market ideals. Charles and David Koch were particularly influenced by the work of Friedrich von Hayek, the author of "The Road to Serfdom" (1944), which argued that centralized government planning led, inexorably, to totalitarianism. Hayek’s belief in unfettered capitalism has proved inspirational to many conservatives, and to anti-Soviet dissidents; lately, Tea Party supporters have championed his work. In June, the talk-radio host Glenn Beck, who has supported the Tea Party rebellion, promoted "The Road to Serfdom" on his show; the paperback soon became a No. 1 best-seller on Amazon. (Beck appears to be a fan of the Kochs; in the midst of a recent on-air parody of Al Gore, Beck said, without explanation, "I want to thank Charles Koch for this information." Beck declined to elaborate on the relationship.)
In recent decades, members of several industrial dynasties have spent parts of their fortunes on a conservative agenda.
Of course, Democrats give money, too. Their most prominent donor, the financier George Soros, runs a foundation, the Open Society Institute, that has spent as much as a hundred million dollars a year in America. Soros has also made generous private contributions to various Democratic campaigns, including Obama’s. But Michael Vachon, his spokesman, argued that Soros’s giving is transparent, and that "none of his contributions are in the service of his own economic interests." The Kochs have given millions of dollars to nonprofit groups that criticize environmental regulation and support lower taxes for industry.
The following is an article arbsract and link to an article that explains a different perspective on some of the fundamentals of Friedrich von Hayek's theories - a man named Walter Block:
On Hayekian Triangles
Abstract:
The triangle is an integral part of the history of economic thought. It has been used by
writers such as Jevons (1871), Taussig (1896), Wicksell (1934, 1969) to illustrate and to help us understand capital theory. Since Hayek (1931) this geometrical figure has been used as a basic pedagogical device to explain the Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT). The purpose of the present paper is to argue that the triangle is highly problematic, if not fatally flawed, and that if ABCT is to be made intelligible this tool of analysis must be either completely jettisoned, or heavily supplemented with a list (see below) of its shortcomings. Moreover in some ways the triangle has been responsible for the relative lack of development of ABCT for over a half century.
Key words:
Austrian economics, business cycle theory, praxeology, economic geometry, triangles
JEL Category:
There seems to be a big misunderstanding over here doesn't it?
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