Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Response to the "Market Failure" Drones (Tom Woods)

Tom Woods reviews Bob Murphy's important new book called Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal:

"The time to worry about depressions," F.A. Hayek once wrote, "is, unfortunately, when they are furthest from the minds of most people." He's right, of course: imagine trying to tell a house flipper in 2004 that the housing market was a giant bubble that was going to burst. At best he'd smile politely, and then roll around in his fresh pile of Federal Reserve Notes.

It's during an artificial, unsustainable boom like the one we've just lived through that, unbeknownst to most people, the real damage is done to the economy. But that's when they're least likely to listen or care.

Now that we're living through the bust, on the other hand, many people are listening. That's why it's so important for economists of the Austrian School to redouble their efforts, whether in terms of writing, public speaking, media, or indeed whatever platform they can get, to promote a sound, free-market interpretation of what's happening. The drones who exist to repeat clichés about market failure need a robust and energetic reply from people who know what they're talking about.

Robert P. Murphy has done exactly this.

Read the rest

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