One of my friends was contemplating about the “nature of Indian Economy and Role of Government” and he concluded that Indian economy is “mixed” but its intent is socialistic. I admire his article for the fact that he is beginning to analyze things with better perspective. However, I also realize that he is wrong if he believes that there can be a free economy in presence of the government. I explained Mixed Economy as the “Middle Vice” in one of my previous articles that I wrote a few years ago. The idea of Mixed economy or Fabian Socialism comes from the misunderstanding of the Aristotelian Nicomachean Ethics that suggests that out of the two extremes, the middle path is preferable. However, the middle path is not always right and often, it is worse than the two extremes. Issue of mixed economy is the same, it is the worst path. If Individual Freedom (Capitalism) is Good, if Socialism is Bad, then Mixed Economy is ugly1 . While I appreciate his article to the extent that he was right about analyzing nature of Indian economy and government, reading his article was painful. Let me tell you why. While this blogger is expressively …Read the Rest
Anarcho-Capitalism
Austrian Economics and Objectivism : Austrian Value Theory and Objective Value Theory
Logic can be expressed in a number of ways; however, if it is sound logic, no expression of it can negate other expression. This is true with the case of differences between Austrian school of economics and the philosophical movement known as Objectivism. However, different terminologies often create various misunderstandings and confusion that furthers the yawning gap between these two branches of libertarianism. Austrians often remain in influence of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard, on the other hand, Objectivists enjoy impressions of Ayn Rand. Recently, I observed a similar debate over the value of Gold. There are three Classic value theories of goods namely, intrinsic, subjective, and objective. First, I will discuss about these three classical value theories and then I will discuss about the Austrian value theory as supported by Austrians and the Objective theory of Values as supported by Ayn Rand and other Objectivists. Classical Concepts of Value Theory Concept of Intrinsic value of a good: According to Richard Cantillon, who was the first of the modern economists, the intrinsic value of an object or good is the measure of land and labour that has been used in production of that good. However, Cantillon conceded that …Read the Rest
Why Minarchy Can’t Work?
(While Ayn Rand was strongly against the idea of collectivism, she failed to realize that the sort of political system she advocated, which is also known as minarchy, is fundamentally no different then any other form of collectivism. This is the reason why Minarchy cannot work in a world of free individuals and the only applicable solution to sustain individual liberty is Anarchocapitalism or Voluntaryism. In her Book, “Anthem,” the hero of Ayn Rand, Equality 7-2521, also called as The Unconquered, who later took the name Prometheus, asks himself, “But I still wonder how it was possible, in those graceless years of transition, long ago, that men did not see whither they were going, and went on, in blindness and cowardice, to their fate. I wonder, for it is hard for me to conceive how men who knew the word “I” could give it up and not know what they lost. But such has been the story, for I have lived in the City of the damned, and I know what horror men permitted to be brought upon them.” That transition started with the call and support for Minarchy, which ultimately will lead to nothing but extreme forms of collectivism, …Read the Rest
The Case for a Voluntaryist Society
The establishment of a few axiomatic truths is required to make rational inferences from observed activity. Examples of these include: no object can be in two places at the same time, one and one make two, and of course “A” is “A”. It would seem, however, that an additional claim has made its way to this list of self-evident truths with little conscious awareness; the necessity of the State. Of all the commonly accepted truisms, this one is among the least scrutinized and the most dubious All other axioms may be verifiable from direct observation. You are you (the philosophic equivalent of “A is A”) can be verified by looking in the mirror. One and one make two may be verified by taking an individual stone and placing it next to another. However, how do we verify the necessity of the state? The first response may be “well it has always been there!” This of course is a non-sequitur as the longevity of the state has nothing to do with its validity. Perhaps other examples of tribal or archaic societies will be cited to show the state as being necessary to protect us from such a base or savage lifestyle. …Read the Rest
