Which book are you reading now? Volume XIII

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Rereading "The Road to Serfdom" by F. A. Hayek.
https://ia801606.us.archive.org/18/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.46585/2015.46585.Road-To-Serfdom_text.pdf

http://revver.com/video/10904/ In the 1940s, Look Magazine made a comic strip of Hayek's classic book 'The Road to Serfdom'. Hayek went on to win the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1974. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road... Hayek's central thesis is that all forms of collectivism lead logically and inevitably to tyranny, and he used the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany as examples of countries which had gone down "the road to serfdom" and reached tyranny. Hayek argued that within a centrally planned economic system, the distribution and allocation of all resources and goods would devolve onto a small group, which would be incapable of processing all the information pertinent to the appropriate distribution of the resources and goods at the central planners' disposal. Disagreement about the practical implementation of any economic plan combined with the inadequacy of the central planners' resource management would invariably necessitate coercion in order for anything to be achieved. Hayek further argued that the failure of central planning would be perceived by the public as an absence of sufficient power by the state to implement an otherwise good idea. Such a perception would lead the public to vote more power to the state, and would assist the rise to power of a "strong man" perceived to be capable of "getting the job done". After these developments Hayek argued that a country would be ineluctably driven into outright totalitarianism. For Hayek "the road to serfdom" inadvertently set upon by central planning, with its dismantling of the free market system, ends in the destruction of all individual economic and personal freedom. Hayek argued that countries such as the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany had already gone down the "road to serfdom", and that various democratic nations are being led down the same road. In The Road to Serfdom he wrote: "The principle that the end justifies the means is in individualist ethics regarded as the denial of all morals. In collectivist ethics it becomes necessarily the supreme rule." http://www.mises.org/books/TRTS/

I fully agree with the above.
 
Does Hayek ever discuss (in that book or in others) how unfettered capitalism leads to concentration into oligopolies or outright monopolies (and oligopsonies and monopsonies, too) which are basically privatised inefficient tyranny?

I have heard of him many times but I hadn't found the book. I'll try and read it. Thanks for the link.
 
Hayek meet garbage. Garbage meet Hayek.

Great book for the Cold War, I guess. Less so these days when capitalism turned out to be just a longer road to the same place.
 
Hayek meet garbage. Garbage meet Hayek.

Great book for the Cold War, I guess. Less so these days when capitalism turned out to be just a longer road to the same place.
Same place, what place is that: "...
Such democide has been far more prevalent than people have believed, even several times greater than the number killed in all of this century's wars. Just consider that alone 61,911,000 people were murdered by the Soviet Union, 38,702,000 by the Chinese communists, 10,214,000 by the Chinese Nationalists, 17,000,000 by the German Nazis, and 5,890,000 by the Japanese militarists during World War II. This does not even exhaust the list of this century's mega-murderers, which also would include the past governments of Turkey, Cambodia, Pakistan, Yugoslavia; nor does it include the lesser killers responsible for hundreds of thousands of corpses each, such as past governments of Uganda, Indonesia, Albania, Burundi, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, Hungary, Romania, Spain, and Vietnam. Then there are the numerous third-class murders who have "only" killed in the tens of thousands. In sum well over 100,000,000 people have been murdered by their governments since 1900, several times greater than the 35,654,000 battle-dead from all the foreign and domestic wars fought in these years, including World Wars I and II. "
Cont.
https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE2.HTM
 
Clearly the road to serfdom must lead to feigned ignorance. It's in the title.
 
I read Arthur Machen's "The Red Hand". Only because someone in some webpage claimed it is among the best works of Machen.
No, it is not. I found it to be quite problematic structure-wise. It does have some of the signature Machen atmosphere, but isn't as refined as his best stories.
 
Play Plotinus' The Rood and the Dragon scenario for Civ III. You won't be disappointed.
I have tried it, but unfortunately I can't seem to get it to install right so all the button text is messed up.

Because I've been on a roll with books lately, finished Byzantium by Stephen Lawhead last night. It is about the attempt by Irish monks embarking on a pilgrimage to Constantinople and the trials along the way. The books is pretty good, although the author has a heavy reliance on plot twists to advance the story along. Some of the twists are executed better than others.
 
I read Byzantium six years ago whilst staying at the NHS's pleasure. That's a fair summary.
 
Hayek meet garbage. Garbage meet Hayek.

Great book for the Cold War, I guess. Less so these days when capitalism turned out to be just a longer road to the same place.

Same place, what place is that: "...
Such democide has been far more prevalent than people have believed, even several times greater than the number killed in all of this century's wars. Just consider that alone 61,911,000 people were murdered by the Soviet Union, 38,702,000 by the Chinese communists, 10,214,000 by the Chinese Nationalists, 17,000,000 by the German Nazis, and 5,890,000 by the Japanese militarists during World War II. This does not even exhaust the list of this century's mega-murderers, which also would include the past governments of Turkey, Cambodia, Pakistan, Yugoslavia; nor does it include the lesser killers responsible for hundreds of thousands of corpses each, such as past governments of Uganda, Indonesia, Albania, Burundi, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, Hungary, Romania, Spain, and Vietnam. Then there are the numerous third-class murders who have "only" killed in the tens of thousands. In sum well over 100,000,000 people have been murdered by their governments since 1900, several times greater than the 35,654,000 battle-dead from all the foreign and domestic wars fought in these years, including World Wars I and II. "
Cont.
https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE2.HTM
Besides the obvious mandatory observation that Hayek ignores the fact that the USA was built on slavery and expanded through unprovoked genocidal wars of aggression, I have to point out that there is such a thing as too much liberty. Not just the freedom to own slaves enshrined in the original version of the US constitution, but the freedom to bribe politicians and start financial bubbles, cheat one's way out of taxes, establish monopolies and monopsonies as I said in ym earlier post, and so on are things that eventually make ‘free’ capitalism devolve into untitled feudalism.
I have tried it, but unfortunately I can't seem to get it to install right so all the button text is messed up.

Because I've been on a roll with books lately, finished Byzantium by Stephen Lawhead last night. It is about the attempt by Irish monks embarking on a pilgrimage to Constantinople and the trials along the way. The books is pretty good, although the author has a heavy reliance on plot twists to advance the story along. Some of the twists are executed better than others.
If you're playing CIvIII via Steam or GoG there's a setting you have to change somewhere and in fact there used to be a pinned thread for it once upon a time (not this one, but the same kind of thing) for that.

On books, I'm set to start reading The Iron Crown: a novel of the Vikings and Byzantium soon™.
 
Takhisis said:
Besides the obvious mandatory observation that Hayek ignores the fact that the USA was built on slavery and expanded through unprovoked genocidal wars of aggression, I have to point out that there is such a thing as too much liberty. Not just the freedom to own slaves enshrined in the original version of the US constitution, but the freedom to bribe politicians and start financial bubbles, cheat one's way out of taxes, establish monopolies and monopsonies as I said in ym earlier post, and so on are things that eventually make ‘free’ capitalism devolve into untitled feudalism.
{Snip}.[/QUOTE (My Bold,and Underline)]"... too much liberty ...", my, my, you'd be happy in Communist China:
No worry about too much liberty.
 
my, my, you'd be happy in Communist China
No, I wouldn't and you'd know that if you read my posts. In fact, that is very much a case of a capitalist totalitarian regime.
 
No, I wouldn't and you'd know that if you read my posts. In fact, that is very much a case of a capitalist totalitarian regime.
Are you sure? You posted the US has 'too much liberty', which country has just the right amount of liberty in your opinion?
 
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/12/opinion/columbus-day-italian-american-racism.html

^Not a book per se but an article. I didn't know the US had had anti-Italian lynch mobs. :cringe:
Are you sure? You posted the US has 'too much liberty', which country has just the right amount of liberty in your opinion?
I don't know, and that's the honest answer. I think I haven't lived or travelled enough. I have already posted enough on China in the past fortnight to ensure me a year of forced re-education should I ever set foot in their territory.
But the countries with the best social indicators are the ones not in the hands of Libertarian ideologues so there must be something to it.
Also, the most brilliant times within the Western/capitalist system were the Baby Boom years that matched the 30 glorieuses, German miracle, etc.… and were all the result of thitherto unprecedented state intervention, investment, public works, etc.: the New Deal in the US and the Marshall Plan in Europe. It can't be pure coincidence.
btw I still haven't started on Hayek's book, I'm on another book on economics (one chapter away, will explain tomorrow.

(Also, note to self: I'd better explain the Christian/Aristotelian concept of virtue and avoiding excesses)
 
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/12/opinion/columbus-day-italian-american-racism.html

^Not a book per se but an article. I didn't know the US had had anti-Italian lynch mobs. :cringe:
{Snip}
We've had 'em all, racial, ethnic, religious, if it was possible we had it.
...
(Also, note to self: I'd better explain the Christian/Aristotelian concept of virtue and avoiding excesses)
Am looking forward to that.
Ta,ta.
ADDON
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Protestors erect 'Lady Liberty' on Hong Kong mountain top.
https://news.yahoo.com/protesters-erect-lady-liberty-statue-hong-kong-mountain-092458950.html

Good on 'em.
 
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One Interesting book that you could read is Taxation: the People's business by Andrew W. Mellon.
The book is a collection of Mellon's arguments for conservative tax policies and more controversial reforms such as a constitutional amendment to eliminate tax-exempt bonds, but more interesting than that is the excerpts the book contains from 1910s and 1920s speeches particularly the excerpts from Calvin Coolidge and Woodrow Wilson who are much more complicated presidents than is commonly understood. One thing that I found really funny was an excerpt from a speech Calvin Coolidge gave to the National Republican Club in 1924 where he decried the fact that 12.5% of America's gdp went to national, state and local taxes. Keep in mind that Calvin Coolidge slashed the combined top-rate for national income tax and surtaxes by 50%.
 
Cauldron is the last of Larry Bond's techno-thrillers written with Patrick Larkin released around the time the 80s turn into the 90s. It tells of an alternate history where economic meltdowns, trade wars, and refugee crises in Europe (sound familiar?) cause the continent to descend into a third major war in the years when the Euro was being introduced in our timeline. France and Germany, leading the European Confederation, seek to impose their will on Central and Eastern Europe, threatening to bring the United States and Russia into the fray. I was skeptical at first that this plot would work, but the author pulled it off. It's an examination of how the economic and political factors can cause alliances to re-align. Of course it delivers Bond's classic high-intensity conflict between two competent sides with sufficient build-up and very satisfying payoff. This is a techno-thriller done right.

I want to say this is even better than Vortex. It's nice that the romance is subdued and doesn't take away precious pages from the (almost-excessively) intricate plot. Compared to the previous novel, this one manages to portray a larger-scale conflict with viewpoints from all important sides. Unfortunately, this is limited for the French, who are somehow all portrayed as arrogant villains in a bit of a disappointing turnabout from how Bond usually portrays opposing sides. As always, there's the American politician portrayed unsympathetically for wanting to limit their nation's involvement. This time it's the Secretary of State, maligned for not wanting to escalate tensions in Europe. Would really like to know what is Larry Bond's beef with Foggy Bottom.
 
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