Alex Tabarrok thought they should about a week ago because the costs of warfare in terms of economics and liberty are both so great and often under-estimated.
This is an argument I find convincing, but now I’m not so sure. In recent comments about the state of the financial crises, Obama said:
“What we’ve seen the last few days is nothing less than the final verdict on an economic philosophy that has completely failed”
Scary stuff in conjunction with a blind call for hope and change. Tyler Cowen gets it right:
There is a misconception that President Bush’s years in office have been characterized by a hands-off approach to regulation. In large part, this myth stems from the rhetoric of the president and his appointees, who have emphasized the costly burdens that regulation places on business.
Hat tip to Chris Coyne at Austrian Economists.
This in from Jason at Productivity Shock:
Clearly, we should perpetuate the misconception that free markets are the
problem by electing McCain…
Abroad, Bailout Is Seen as a Free Market Detour
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ
The New York Times
Published: September 17, 2008
PARIS – Is the United States no longer the global beacon of unfettered,
free-market capitalism?
In extending a last-minute $85 billion lifeline to American International
Group, the troubled insurer, Washington has not only turned away from
decades of rhetoric about the virtues of the free market and the dangers of
government intervention, but it has also probably undercut future American
efforts to promote such policies abroad.
“I fear the government has passed the point of no return,” said Ron Chernow,
a leading American financial historian. “We have the irony of a free-market
administration doing things that the most liberal Democratic administration
would never have been doing in its wildest dreams.”
can you be a libertarian and vote for a socialist??WhaT about Obama ,except the b.s. would cause a libertarian to vote leftist. Certainly the Iraq war should not be a reason as Obama supports all other statements about Pakistan.
We are all socialists now.