The road to hell. . .
I'm going to re-read Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" over the next week or so. Written in 1944, it is entirely relevant today as we see the government regulation pendulum swinging back toward the more-is-better side. Health insurance premiums up? Cap 'em. Mortgage crisis? Regulate 'em. Can't pay your student loan? Those predatory loan agencies. You get the point. From prescription drugs to gasoline to smoking to eating, the trend in policy solutions is clear.
Now read this little gem from "The Road to Serfdom:"
"Any attempt to control prices or quantities of particular commodities deprives competition of its power of bringing about an effective co-ordination of individual efforts, because price changes then cease to register all the relevant changes in circumstances and no longer provide a reliable guide for the individual's actions."
I love Austrian economic theory. Sheer poetry. Nancy Pelosi, are you listening. Heck, Henry Paulson, are you listening?
I've written about my regulatory concerns here and here.
And then my copy of Imprimis, from Hillsdale College, appeared and featured Charles Kesler expressing concern about the entire slate of Presidential candidates and hopes for limited government:
"Utterly missing in this election season is a serious focus on limited or constitutional government. The Democrats, generally speaking, want more government, not less, so their neglect of the issue is to be expected. But the Republican dereliction is more troubling. It represents a falling away from the standards of Ronald Reagan’s conservatism— a decline already reflected in the “compassionate conservatism” of George W. Bush. After 9/11, many prominent conservatives—e.g., George Will, David Brooks, Fred Barnes—pronounced that small government conservatism is dead. That awful reminder of the dangerous world we live in, and of the need to defend ourselves, somehow meant that big government conservatism, as they called it, was now the only game in town. Conservatives would need to make their peace with this idea, they argued, in order to win future elections."
I remain concerned. Developing. . .
Now read this little gem from "The Road to Serfdom:"
"Any attempt to control prices or quantities of particular commodities deprives competition of its power of bringing about an effective co-ordination of individual efforts, because price changes then cease to register all the relevant changes in circumstances and no longer provide a reliable guide for the individual's actions."
I love Austrian economic theory. Sheer poetry. Nancy Pelosi, are you listening. Heck, Henry Paulson, are you listening?
I've written about my regulatory concerns here and here.
And then my copy of Imprimis, from Hillsdale College, appeared and featured Charles Kesler expressing concern about the entire slate of Presidential candidates and hopes for limited government:
"Utterly missing in this election season is a serious focus on limited or constitutional government. The Democrats, generally speaking, want more government, not less, so their neglect of the issue is to be expected. But the Republican dereliction is more troubling. It represents a falling away from the standards of Ronald Reagan’s conservatism— a decline already reflected in the “compassionate conservatism” of George W. Bush. After 9/11, many prominent conservatives—e.g., George Will, David Brooks, Fred Barnes—pronounced that small government conservatism is dead. That awful reminder of the dangerous world we live in, and of the need to defend ourselves, somehow meant that big government conservatism, as they called it, was now the only game in town. Conservatives would need to make their peace with this idea, they argued, in order to win future elections."
I remain concerned. Developing. . .
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