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Yes, and I'm pointing out the fact that there is a difference between "laws" and "govt laws". You can have laws and courts in a free market system, the system now has courts but they aren't legitimate in the same way that a free market system's courts would be. Because the only thing they derive...

I wasn't suggesting "we" (do you mean we as in, you and i, or are you referring to the government here?) give guns to 3 year olds, I was suggesting that there's no need for government legislation about it, and communities will work things out themselves. I'm talking about moving more towards...

What do you mean when you say "rational actors"? Because if you're talking in an economic sense, Mises (in Human Action) argued that all action is "rational", it's only when people impose some kind of external arbitrary standard on what "rational" means, that they are able to call an action...

I'm not sure what your point here is. Yes, I'm arguing that the government prints too much money and circumvents the free market checks that exist. If you're talking about the definition of inflation, that's just because in Austrian economics "inflation" means expansion in the currency. The rise...

+1 Not only do the regulators fail at catching frauds (even when they were warned about Madoff), they are actively harmful, because it makes people falsely think stuff is secure "cos the SEC is looking after stuff". Private watchdog groups do a much better job at spotting fraudsters than the...

The Austrian explanation fits the facts better than other theories I mean a system where the government doesn't control so many aspects of the currency. A system where people are free to print and use whatever currency they want, start whatever banks they want - and let the market decide what...

The RBA is a government organisation, granted special powers by the state's legislation. If it were not for the state, there would not be a central bank with this kind of power. Ok well I'm arguing that it's bad for the government to tax in the first place, so I'm saying that was wrong in the...

It's biggest mistake was to create malinvestment, which is the bubble that it created by having fractional reserve banking, and monopoly fiat currency. The best way to rectify that problem is to allow free banking and private currency. H@wkeye, I will respond to your post later tonight, don't...

No it's not bizarre, it's just a different branch of economics than what you're used to, it is Austrian economics. Forget what they teach you in high school + most uni economics and give it a try sometime, check out Ludwig von Mises Institute - Homepage resources like daily articles or the free...

Enlighten you? This whole idea of the government stimulating the economy is a scam cos the government doesn't exist "outside of the equation", all it does is take from one part of the economy and give to another. There is no 'stimulation' if you take $5 out of your left pocket and put it in your...

What about just borrowing a tonne of money and taxing in the future, which is effectively taxing people who aren't even born yet! They're not alive yet so they won't know or care! It's not wrong at all to impose this kind of debt on people without any choice at all! We should all just be born...

Good riddance to Christianity !

That is the very issue we're talking about. So what's the point in having a discussion, if in order to have it, I have to 'retract' the statement? Besides, if you look at what I wrote, I wrote "even setting that aside", and spoke about the impossibility of rational economic calculation under...

That's my very point, you don't get the right to 'disagree with the price or the product' under government. Not only does the government fail in helping the poor, much of what it does actually makes their lives harder. It's not possible to centrally plan things because not only does the...

This nation building plan is dumb, it is ignoring one of the first lessons in economics, the fallacy of the broken window. Frederic Bastiat's What is seen and what is not seen The government doesn't "create" jobs, because that money would have otherwise gone somewhere else and would have...

Not at all, all it requires for the government (or its agencies and workers) to perform poorly, is the guarantee of payment for nothing. Oh wait, they already do get paid even when they fail. In fact, when government businesses fail, they often get given more money, not less. When a private...

So if I had a $100 hot dog club, where I automatically deduct the money out of your account, and gave you a hot dog in return, would that be legitimate? It seems if your argument is that "you benefit from it", such an argument would also justify doing many other things. So... enjoy being a...

If this is really true, then how can the "ordinary man" be trusted to vote for a leader who will force him to eat weetbix over bacon + sausages? This is the paradox of democracy, people will just vote for their own preferences anyway.

Yea if/when that happens, we're pretty screwed Even if we were to leave aside the moral issues involved with stealing, the "economic experts" in Canberra would not be able to steer the money around more effectively because price signals are needed to be able to efficiently apportion resources...

Essentially, what Schroe said. Fractional reserve banking is imposed on us by da gubermint. The RBA is essentially an attempt to centrally plan the interest rate, or at least influence it via buying selling treasury securities (effectively allowing the money supply to expand or contract...