tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8019578584768795401.post3269953009243429041..comments2023-09-08T11:36:24.207+02:00Comments on Mat Rodina: Just Add Hyperinflation: Its ArmageddonStanislavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01399899593777065344noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8019578584768795401.post-17794851957700513292009-06-03T05:06:28.547+03:002009-06-03T05:06:28.547+03:00I completely agree with Jaco and second his/her co...I completely agree with Jaco and second his/her comment to Gregor - there are no true free markets. They are all perverted by government intervention, in some countries more than others, but all are perverted in some fashion. I have not yet read Hayek or Mises (I intend to), but I have read Hazlitt and I highly recommend that Gregor (and everyone) do the same.<br /><br />By the way, I am an American and this is my first visit to this blog. I stumbled across it thanks to an interesting and insightful blog post (reprinted as an article) that is getting some attention in the US. Unfortunately, it only seems to be getting the attention of those of us who are now considered "on the fringe" because we don't believe in the government interventionist policies that have been slowly destroying our nation for 100 years and are now occurring at a break-neck pace.<br /><br />http://www.redcounty.com/americans-are-hapless-sheeple<br /><br />Stalkee, thank you for mentioning "than" vs. "then"...this is one of my biggest grammar pet peeves, but I try to forgive those whose native language is not English. :)Jillian4Libertyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05966152855202652307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8019578584768795401.post-29806491690881534762009-06-02T07:59:40.186+03:002009-06-02T07:59:40.186+03:00More THAN. More THAN. Not more then. Argh. Whateve...More THAN. More THAN. Not more then. Argh. Whatever happened to teaching correct use of the English language?Live•PD Fanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04864323306418592534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8019578584768795401.post-89431083567903493232009-06-02T06:42:38.248+03:002009-06-02T06:42:38.248+03:00I am a american but I couldn't agree more with you...I am a american but I couldn't agree more with you russians!jrolinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00237997579775794423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8019578584768795401.post-27800754093274353982009-05-14T23:56:00.000+03:002009-05-14T23:56:00.000+03:00Ummm...Gregor...there is no free markets...anywher...Ummm...Gregor...there is no free markets...anywhere on this beautifull earth of ours.<br /><br />So yes, I would suggest that you seriously consider reading something of Hayek, Mises, Hazlitt etc.<br /><br />Once you've read at least something, you will be shocked when you review your comment again ;-)<br /><br />If I may suggest, here is an excellent starting point: http://jim.com/econ/Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02960721151850307298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8019578584768795401.post-26944809906915307082009-05-14T12:53:00.000+03:002009-05-14T12:53:00.000+03:00‘You will eat grass and choke on weeds as you fond...‘You will eat grass and choke on weeds as you fondly remember steak dinners and red wine’<br /><br />Uh, Stan, isn’t that exactly what happened when Boris Yeltsin enacted ‘shock therapy’? Whilst I have not read anything by Hayek (so will not judge) it seems to me that every effort to enact his ideology has met with disaster, declining GDP, heightened infant mortality rates, collapse of social services, increased suicide/ depression and increased corruption. CF Yeltsin’s Russia, Pinochet’s Chile, Videla’s Argentina, post-Saddam Iraq etc. <br /><br />I live in what you term ‘Anglo-Marxist’ Britain. I think this term is accurate from a social viewpoint: our libraries and bookshops are full of mind-numbing celeb gossip and anti-religious books. Christianity is incessantly attacked by right/left/ centre whilst our media is full of panegyrics to corrupt politicians and business leaders. Children in primary schools are to be taught by the state how to use condoms whilst teenagers are given abortions.<br /><br />However, from an economic viewpoint Britain is far from ‘Marxist’. It has been a staple of our media for decades that the Scandinavian states are going to collapse next week. Our state has privatised the transport, which now consumes more in tax subsidies than it received in funding when nationalised. The free market has resulted in Britain buying billions in bad debt, which has in turn made anything of value almost unattainable whilst our manufacturing industry is closed down because bad dept is worth more than our motor cars(?!). <br /><br />There is a very good philosopher called John Gray who wrote that free market fanaticism has done more than bolshevism to destroy the bourgeoisie. I think he is right. Whilst the free market Anglosphere claims that France and Germany are also on the verge of bankruptcy I would place my bets on France being the country best suited to weather this crisis. Far more so than any country under the IMF’s care (on that note, some think the Tories will ask for an IMF loan, which would in turn mean bringing shock therapy to Britain). <br /><br />As for Russia, I do not know. Whilst I love Russian culture, and think Tsarist Russia was amongst the greatest civilisations, it seems like it still suffers from the after effects of communism. Incidentally, did you think Vladimir Putin was correct to renationalise Yukos? <br /><br />The whole free market obsession is built on a philosophical model of Darwinian evolution, where the weak perish and the strong survive. But the exact opposite is the case in Britain. Vast bureaucratic businesses that sell cheap, tasteless products survive, whilst medium sized businesses collapse. I’d advise the Russians against being too intoxicated by such ideas. Our leader Thatcher claimed to be a Hayekian/ Friedmanite fanatic, and now we have the worst civil liberties record in Western Europe.Gregorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14729641571904025752noreply@blogger.com