Government shutdown as "libertarian experiment"

The Libertarian Experiment That Isn’t | Cato @ Liberty - Ryan Bourne:

January 11, 2018 - "According to Paul Krugman, the government shutdown amounts to a potentially big libertarian experiment. With nine departments and multiple agencies closed, maybe for months, the New York Times columnist and Nobel laureate envisages a coming test of whether the country can live without the Food and Drug Administration, the Small Business Administration and farm subsidies....

"As the vast majority of the U.S. population go about their daily lives, barely noticing that 25 percent of federal discretionary spending has been paused, it’s certainly possible many will wonder why debt is being racked up for programs that have no noticeable effect on their well-being. Who knows, many employees, businesses and farms may also reconsider the wisdom of placing their livelihoods at the whims of the political process.

"Better still, the shutdown may bring attention to these otherwise rarely-scrutinized programs. If major columnists continue identifying Cato as proponents of scrapping things such as farm subsidies and small business cronyism, linking to our research on the damaging economic, political, and social consequences of existing provisions, the shutdown could serve a useful public education role too!

"But ... shutdowns appear not to change much in regards the size and scope of government in the long term, yet bring chaos, ill-feeling and uncertainty in the short....

"Libertarians are indeed confident that, as in countries such as New Zealand, scrapping agricultural subsidies would deliver a more efficient industry, taxpayer savings, and a bigger economy. But ... temporary suspension of promised support is not an environment conducive to farmers making long-term crop or farm ownership decisions, private companies banding to form market-based food safety certification agencies, or small businesses sourcing new finance.

"Yes, economic actors will take steps to mitigate the effects of disruption. But knowing government will eventually reopen, there is little to no incentive for the new institutions to develop or businesses and farms to undertake the structural change we would see if government absented from these roles. Instead, ... [t]he natural priority for those farms, businesses and federal employees right now is to lobby successfully for the government to reopen and their payments to start flowing again....

"In fact, ... a host of other areas likely to be noticeably affected by a sustained shutdown – security screening at airports, air traffic control, and the management of national parks – are better managed in other countries with more private sector involvement. If the shutdown brings attention to this, then great.

"Overall though, libertarians are fully aware that for the real policy experiments we desire, the public and/or politicians must be convinced of the necessity or desirability for permanent policy change in a market-based direction. The best chance for success with that is in an environment where those affected can adjust in an orderly manner, and replacement private-sector institutions have time to develop."

Read more: https://www.cato.org/blog/libertarian-experiment-isnt
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Publisher redoes Atlas Shrugged for kids

There's now a kids' version of Ayn Rand’s "Atlas Shrugged" for your libertarian third grader — Quartzy - Oliver Staley:

November 30, 2017 - "If you feel fiction for middle schoolers is altogether lacking in its celebration of free-market principles, there’s a solution: a kid’s version of Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand’s monumental novel of Objectivist philosophy.

"In The Tuttle Twins and the Search for Atlas, a frustrated strong man leaves a circus beset by socialism, and the plucky Tuttle twins learn important lessons about production and consumption. The antagonist is a lazy clown named Kroogie, named for liberal economist Paul Krugman.

"If it sounds a bit heavy handed, its publisher, the Utah-based Libertas Institute think tank, makes no apologies about its intent to produce ideologically suitable content for kids. 'Each year, hundreds of millions of children are spoon-fed false history, bad economics, and logical fallacies. Your child is not immune,' according to the book’s website.

"The Search for Atlas was written by Connor Boyack, Libertas’s founder, and a home-schooling father of two, who says on the site he was frustrated by his inability to find material 'that teaches young children about the principles of freedom. There was nothing!' (Boyack is fan of  italics). Boyack has written six other similarly themed Tuttle Twin books, including The Road to Surfdom, a surfing-inspired riff on The Road to Serfdom, by Austrian economist F.A. Hayek."

Read more: https://quartzy.qz.com/1143704/theres-now-a-kids-version-of-ayn-rands-atlas-shrugged-for-your-libertarian-third-grader/
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Order here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B072LWG7WG 

Ron Paul: Oppose right and left authoritarianism

Ron Paul: We Must Oppose Fascism Of the Right and Left | News and views from a different angle - Market Slant:

August 22, 2017 - "Following the recent clashes between the alt-right and the group antifa, some libertarians have debated which group they should support. The answer is simple: neither. The alt-right and its leftist opponents are two sides of the same authoritarian coin.

"The alt-right elevates racial identity over individual identity. The obsession with race leads them to support massive government interference in the economy in order to benefit members of the favored race. They also favor massive welfare and entitlement spending, as long as it functions as a racial spoils system.... No one who sincerely supports individual liberty, property rights, or the right to life can have any sympathy for this type of racial collectivism.

"Antifa, like all Marxists, elevates class identity over individual identity. Antifa supporters believe government must run the economy because otherwise workers will be exploited by greedy capitalists. This faith in central planning ignores economic reality, as well as the reality that in a free market employers and workers voluntarily work together for their mutual benefit. It is only when government intervenes in the economy that crony capitalists have the opportunity to exploit workers, consumers, and taxpayers....

"Ironically, the failure of the Keynesian model of economic authoritarianism, promoted by establishment economists like Paul Krugman, is responsible for the rise of the alt-right and antifa.... [M]any Americans continue to struggle with unemployment and a Federal Reserve-caused eroding standard of living. History shows that economic hardship causes many to follow demagogues offering easy solutions and convenient scapegoats....

"As the Keynesian-Krugman empire of big government and fiat currency collapses, more people will be attracted to authoritarianism, leading to an increase in violence. The only way to ensure the current system is not replaced with something even worse is for those of us who know the truth to work harder to spread the ideas of liberty.

"While we should be willing to form coalitions with individuals of good will across the political spectrum, we must never align with anyone promoting violence as a solution to social and economic problems. We must also oppose any attempts to use the violence committed by extremists as a justification for expanding the police state or infringing on free speech....

"Libertarians have several advantages in the ideological battle... First, we do not need to resort to scapegoating and demagoguing, as we have the truth about the welfare-warfare state and the Federal Reserve on our side. We also offer a realistic way to restore prosperity. But our greatest advantage is that, while authoritarianism divides people by race, class, religion, or other differences, the cause of liberty unites all who seek peace and prosperity."

Read more: https://www.marketslant.com/article/ron-paul-we-must-oppose-fascism-right-and-left
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Copyright © 2017 by Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

Krugman's hit-piece on Johnson full of errors

Almost Everything Paul Krugman Says in This Awful Column About Gary Johnson Is Wrong - Hit & Run : Reason.com -  Robby Soave:

September 19, 2016 - "Paul Krugman ... a one-dimensional partisan operative still somehow masquerading as the in-house economist for The New York Times' op-ed pages — excoriates young voters as not merely reckless, but actively dangerous, given their penchant for supporting third-party candidates Jill Stein and Gary Johnson. Especially Gary Johnson.

"Krugman rejects the idea that these voters could possibly like Johnson because they agree with his views, or consider him the most honest and forthright option. According to Krugman, ... if their goal is register a protest vote again Clinton, they are acting immaturely by helping to elect Donald Trump....

"Unsurprisingly, Krugman's column makes some unfair and likely incorrect logical leaps. He begins by asserting that Johnson and Stein's high favorability among young people hurts Clinton. But, as Bleeding Heart Libertarians blogger Jacob T. Levy explains, Johnson's overall base is pulling slightly more voters from the Trump camp than the Clinton camp....

"Krugman ... just doesn't understand how they could possibly support the nominee of the Libertarian Party — the party that wants to 'eliminate environmental regulation, abolish the income tax, do away with public schools, and dismantle Social Security and Medicare.' Of course, those are generic libertarian policy positions, not Johnson's positions. For example, Johnson doesn't want to 'dismantle' Social Security and Medicare — he told CBS News explicitly that he wants to reform these programs, rather than eliminate them.

"Krugman has mischaracterized Johnson's views on a host of issues. But the issues Krugman ignores are even more telling. The average millennial isn't just going to vote for the candidate offering the most robust welfare state. They care about things like reforming drug laws and staying out of pointless wars, too. And on these issues, even Krugman would likely have to admit that Johnson is clearly more palatable. That's why he omits these issues....

"Lastly, Krugman demonstrates impressively un-economic thinking when he asserts ...  that each voter must treat his or her vote as if it's the deciding one. In reality, an individual voter has effectively zero chance of influencing the outcome of a national election, so everybody might as well vote for the candidate they like best, if they vote at all. For an impressive number of millennials — who do not feel bound to obey the two-party duopoly that produces horribly flawed candidates year after year — that person is Johnson."

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2016/09/19/almost-everything-paul-krugman-says-in-t
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Libertarians can be a significant force for good

Libertarians Can Be a Significant Force for Good in U.S. Politics - The Atlantic - Conor Friedersdorf:

August 14, 2014 - "Has the 'Libertarian Moment' Finally Arrived?"

"The question was put to New York Times Magazine readers by journalist Robert Draper, who has elicited disdainful responses from Paul Krugman of the Times, Jonathan Chait of New York, and my colleague David Frum. All three concur that the notion of a libertarian ascendancy is an unsophisticated, laughable fantasy. That's a vexing position to hear from this particular trio. If there is no real prospect of tomorrow's voters embracing libertarian ideas, let alone libertarians exercising meaningful power over policy, why have these three spent years dedicating countless hours, numerous articles in prominent publications, and tens of thousands of words criticizing, mocking, and vilifying libertarians, even as centrist elites carried out disastrous policies from Iraq to Wall Street? They're perfectly within their rights to proceed as though libertarianism is a political force that imperils us, or an obvious nonstarter, but it cannot be both.

"I'd respectfully argue that libertarianism is neither dangerous nor doomed, and that people who think otherwise are misled by a double standard they use when analyzing this political faction. When they write about a 'libertarian moment,' they act as if it would mean the immediate embrace of an extreme, ideologically pure version of a philosophy that most actual sympathizers embrace with pragmatic moderation.... But in the real world, libertarian ideas will only ever be implemented partially in a system of checks and balances where modest reforms are difficult to achieve, never mind sweeping, rapid changes....

""The relevant question is whether younger voters will support policies and elect leaders that enhance liberty in comparison to the status quo. If that's what is meant by 'a libertarian moment,' and it seems like a perfectly reasonable definition of the phrase to me, then we may indeed be witnessing one."

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/08/an-opening-for-libertarians-to-be-a-significant-force-in-us-politics/375972/
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Six flaws in Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century

Six Ways Thomas Piketty's 'Capital' Isn't Holding Up to Scrutiny - Kyle Smith, Forbes:

May 1, 2014 - "Dubbed the 'rock-star economist,' France's Thomas Piketty has topped the Amazon.com  bestseller list with the surprise blockbuster book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, which argues that because the return on capital must be greater than overall growth, the rich are destined to hog an ever-increasing proportion of the economic pie.

"Piketty's research, his eloquence (he quotes Jane Austen and Honore de Balzac) and his call for wealth taxes plus a confiscatory marginal income tax rate (80 percent) have Keynesian liberal economists swooning. Their leader, Paul Krugman, boasts that 'the right seems unable to mount any kind of substantive counterattack to Mr. Piketty’s thesis. Instead, the response has been all about name-calling.'

"Krugman is misinformed. Piketty's book is being shredded. Here’s a brief rundown of some of the flaws in Capital in the Twenty-First Century” that have already been exposed."

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kylesmith/2014/05/01/six-ways-thomas-pikettys-capital-isnt-holding-up-to-scrutiny/
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Krugman’s nasty and inane attack on ‘Libertarian Populism’

Paul Krugman’s Nasty and Inane Attack on ‘Libertarian Populism’ - The Daily Beast - Nick Gillespie:

July 19, 2013 - "It’s got to be a pretty good gig to be Paul Krugman.... He’s got tenure at the second-best college in New Jersey, an equally secure gig at the second-best newspaper in New York, and he’s even copped a Nobel Prize.... Best of all, Krugman has attained that rare level of eminence where he doesn’t even have to engage the very opponents he dismisses as beneath contempt....

"Krugman’s latest target is 'libertarian populism,' which he summarizes thus: 'The idea here is that there exists a pool of disaffected working-class white voters who ... can be mobilized again with the right kind of conservative economic program — and ... can restore the Republican Party’s electoral fortunes.' This ain’t gonna happen, chuffs Krugman, because ... Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)! Despite the fact that the former Republican vice-presidential nominee and marathon-time amnesiac is nobody’s idea of a libertarian or a populist....

"Had Colonel Krugman ventured outside his ideological compound, he might have happened upon the writings of Tim Carney of The Washington Examiner. To the extent that libertarian populism has a policy agenda, it’s mostly thanks to Carney, who likes to write books attacking right- and left-wing crony capitalists. He’s libertarian in that he consistently believes that freer markets function more fairly and more efficiently, and he generally thinks people should be left alone when it comes to economic and personal freedom (he’s not an absolutist on most things). He’s populist in that he is basically obsessed with what he sees as concentrations of power and wealth among elites who rig markets, status, and more against the little guy."

Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/19/paul-krugman-s-nasty-and-inane-attack-on-libertarian-populism.html
Also at: http://reason.com/archives/2013/07/22/paul-krugmans-nasty-and-inane-attack-on
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Also see: Krugman and "Eliminationist Rhetoric" by George J. Dance

Libertarian populism won't save the GOP

Libertarian Populism, Trashed by Krugman, Won't Save Republicans - Bloomberg - Ramesh Ponnuru:

July 18, 2013 - "New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has gone on the attack against a tiny conservative political movement before ... it has really come together as a movement.

"Krugman’s column trashing 'libertarian populism,' which showed no evidence of first-hand familiarity with the work of anyone who might claim the label, ran on July 11. It was not until Monday that Tim Carney, a libertarian-populist writer (and a colleague of mine at the American Enterprise Institute), got around to publishing a manifesto for the group. It is a document that contains several good ideas -- but not a viable political strategy for conservatives.

"The main focus of Carney’s work is that big government and big business collude at the expense of the little guy, and he recommends that Republicans run against that collusion in order to win working-class votes. In particular he wants them to break up the big banks, end corporate-welfare programs, clean up the tax code so that powerful interests no longer profit from it, and end regulations that protect established businesses from competitors (regulations that stifle food trucks, for example). He would also cut the payroll tax and end government policies that favor employer-based health insurance.

"I’m sympathetic to most of the items on Carney’s list -- and those on the list that fellow populist Conn Carroll has compiled. Taken together, though, they do not seem to amount to a winning political platform."

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-18/libertarian-populism-trashed-by-krugman-won-t-save-repubicans.html
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Paul Krugman calls Tea Partiers neo-Nazis

Krugman and "Eliminationist Rhetoric", Nolan Chart:

by George Dance (libertarian) - Friday, January 14, 2011

"'Eliminationist rhetoric' means Nazi rhetoric, those accused of using it (Tea Party members and Republican office holders) are being called neo-Nazis, and their agenda is being claimed to be the destruction of Jewry. Says Schneiderman: 'By using the word, Paul Krugman is telling us that he sees himself as waging war against a political movement that represents the reincarnation of the Third Reich.'"