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Inflation And Its Uses

From the desk of George Handlery on Sat, 2012-08-11 16:37

Inflation is a subtle way to make you pay for the corrupting gifts you had accepted.

Regrettably, this column often needs to deal with the trends of the economy. Politics, especially the “getting elected” aspect of it, is being economized. As a result, and increasingly, the governors’ economic policy responds to the dictate of political concerns. The intertwining of the two areas that are meant to be separated is not accidental. Collectivists converted the framework within which societies produce their livelihood to a political matter, that is, into a something that is steered by those that hold power. This capture of economics by politics causes havoc. The consequences of the political steering of what would otherwise be a natural process, is characterized by derailments. The record confirms the ultimate failure of collectivistic approaches. This new order, within which society is organized as an association for satisfying its member’s needs through production, wobbles.

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Not With A Whimper - Part 1

From the desk of Howard Schwartz on Mon, 2012-08-06 21:55

A few days after the riots in Britain last summer, I happened to be at an academic conference. The British were well represented and I asked a few of them for their thoughts. They were appalled, of course, but they could certainly understand the motivations of the rioters, it seemed. The cuts that had been announced by the government bore a large part of the responsibility. These people were so deprived, and the cuts would take away whatever they had. So the riots were the government's fault, you see. And then there was the atrocious behavior of the rich, what with MPs diddling their expense accounts and all. So it was their fault, or perhaps the inequality in society that had given them the money to diddle with. Or it was the fault of capitalism, which had caused them to feel they needed things that they could not ever hope to buy, and so they had to do what they had to do in order to get them. Their method was regrettable, but they were not to blame; they had been forced into it.

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