Keynes vs. Hayek, Round 2

I like how at the end Keynes is pulled up to his feet and declared the victor (no matter how obvious a failure, the corrupt system keeps applying his theories). Then the Washington mandarins, Wall Street bigwigs and press all gather around him while the nerds come to congratulate Hayek. The press often implies that the Wall Street crowd loves Hayek and laissez-faire (“unrestrained markets” and all that), when in reality the moneyed political players support intervention since they are successful rent seekers and bailout recipients.

The key point that well-intentioned supporters of government (like most everyone in Europe) often miss is summed up in this phrase from Hayek:

“With political incentives, discretion’s a joke.
Those dials they’re twisting, just mirrors and smoke.”

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For those who haven’t seen it, this is the first video:

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And the real Hayek on Keynes:

John Stossel on Crony Capitalism

I’ve always liked John Stossel, a reporter who started out doing exposés on businesses as a consumer reporter in New York (and was famously hit by a pro-wrestler during an interview in the ’80s), but gradually realized that the biggest scams of course use the force of government.

He worked for ABC for ages, but was recently hired by Fox to host his own show (that makes two genuine, anti-war libertarians on Fox now, including Judge Andrew Napolitano — Beck of course is a phoney).

Here’s a clip from his new show on crony capitalism, focusing on special relationship between a “green” window manufacturer and the Obama administration:

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This kind of reporting would make Murray Rothbard proud. He knew that you can’t truly examine government policy without looking at the personal and financial lives of the politicos and businesses involved.