[redmenace]

WOW....I am finishing this book up for school and I am really impressed. I am not sure if anyone know of FA Hayek, but he is a WWII/Post WWII Era Economist. His book is about the dangers of socialism and facism. In his eyes they actually have the same ultimate ends.

[vyper]

Economics needs only one man: Keynes (sp?)

I will leave now.

[Jeryko]

In my Econ class, we had to do PowerPoints on him and Freidrich Engels.  Got a 95% on it too

[Rictor]

The trouble is that socialism has such a broad definition. It can mean everything from a moderate welfare state such as the US, to Stalin-era USSR, depening on who you ask

At its worst, no doubt socialism is very close to fascism, or rather it is the economic expression of fascism. But at it's best, it aims simply to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and all that kind of stuff. But being an economic system only, it all depends on what the political agenda is.

[redmenace]

Even in its simplest forms, socialism and facism is the beginning of the road to serfdom. I look at US Gov't and its elimination of choice through tarrifs on say imported steel. That was Hayek's point.

[Ace]

Free trade is only free when all are on equal economic footing to begin with, otherwise it is serfdom plain and simple. One party exploited, yet unable to escape from the cycle due to forced dependence.

The problem is with economic extremes of any kind. Pure laissez-faire doesn't work. Look at the British Empire and what is now occuring with the United States and its foreign relations. The problem is, no one believes this until they fall on their asses and have no one to blame but themselves, and by that point the damage has already been done.

The same applies to environmental regulations.

[redmenace]

Originally posted by Ace
Free trade is only free when all are on equal economic footing to begin with, otherwise it is serfdom plain and simple. One party exploited, yet unable to escape from the cycle due to forced dependence.

One people don't have to trade with another.

Originally posted by Ace
The problem is with economic extremes of any kind. Pure laissez-faire doesn't work. Look at the British Empire and what is now occuring with the United States and its foreign relations. The problem is, no one believes this until they fall on their asses and have no one to blame but themselves, and by that point the damage has already been done.

The same applies to environmental regulations.

Actually I think laissez-faire does work even in terms of monopolies. Now if you are thinking of labor regulations well maybe but not in the case of a minimum wage, frankly. But the overall point of Hayek, that the introduction to a form of central planning will lead to a eventual supremacy of central planning and abandonment of the market mechanism.