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Exactly. That is why we need to give up thinking that brilliant human beings are capable of manipulating the money supply so that we avoid the ups and downs of the business cycle which are inherent to free markets.......just let the money supply expand a consistent % each year based on GDP...

Whatever philosophy you live by (and every other) has many current (and former) disciples who did not (and do not) live by the principles that the founder advocates. Sometimes the followers stray from the principles, sometimes they misinterpret, sometimes they are weak, etc. Often, even the...

Some day the pendulum will swing the other way ..... but not until after a lot of pain and fury. We may have to go a lot further down the socialist road before things turn......hope not.

LOL.....very good!!!!

Who believes this? Of course, we need a limited gov't (remember the Constitution) and a few basic laws.........that are STRICTLY ENFORCED ON EVERYONE (this will keep new laws to a minimum).

Great point.....except that their beliefs tend to elect people who will take our money by force. By the way, when I first read some Ayn Rand in my early twenties, it was like water to someone lost in the desert. All I had ever heard was "share, share, share....live your life for others". I...

One example of millions to choose from to illustrate what Ayn Rand and Adam Smith are talking about: On this forum lots of people are traders. We are SELFISHLY trying to make the most money we can on each trade......nothing is altruistic about. But the bigger picture is that we are...

Sorry, I thought everyone knew about Adam Smith: He was only referring to free people exchanging their goods and services in a free market economy. Whereby each one is trying to do selfishly what gives them the best individual result, but with the overall result that the standard of...

Paraphrasing Adam Smith on free markets: Each individual, in pursuing his own self interest, shall be led, as though by an invisible hand, to achieve the common good. (This from the other book I read, Wealth of Nations)

I don't think you need to worry about anybody in the oval office pushing the nuclear button........although I did worry that Bill might accidentally bump into it while distracted. :-) What country is it that you speak of that China looks to as a role model? Stosh

I just read the Wikipedia info and find that you ignored all the positive statements and presented your cherry picked negatives to paint an unfair picture. Regarding her dead philosophy, it says her book has sold 30 million copies and still sells 800,000 per year some 50 years after...

So true...... the movie would probably be too dumbed down and simplistic to do justice her increasingly esoteric philosophy. As you say, more than a bite-sized portion of her iconoclastic doctrine is needed to EFFECT understanding among the masses, thus enabling them to choose leaders whose...

Excellent article about Atlas Shrugged in today's (Jan. 9) Wall Street Journal on page W11. Very timely.....says they may make a major movie soon about it. Stosh

Your observation here would seem to support my contention that politicians and bureaucrats are highly unlikely to be able to properly effectuate economic prosperity by fiddling with monetary and fiscal policy. I much prefer the decisions of millions of businesses and individuals guided by...

One might be tempted to draw a conclusion from that fact.....but that would be too simplistic, I'm sure. Glad to know Congress was looking out for us little people.

Galbreath would undoubtedly yield to my man Angrycat in a debate...........even if he wasn't dead. Stosh

I would think that a desire to be left alone (with a few STRICTLY enforced limits) might work in society as well as in markets....and does not constitute an aggressive stance of trying to "shape everyone and everything into their world image". Were you a philosophy major? Stosh

That would be correct, but I wouldn't do it again......guess I would just stay home. Regarding Keynes and the fact that countercyclical monetary and fiscal policy has never been properly applied to see if it would really work. That is exactly the flaw in it: human beings (FOMC, treasury...

To Angrycat: You need to figure out a way to let Thunderdog out of this unfair debate. Not only have you experienced socialism in the Soviet Union, you have studied the subject in depth. Stosh

When I took some gov't and economics courses at UT Austin in the "60's", Galbreath was worshipped.... and of course Paul Samuelson wrote the textbook expousing Keynes whereby brilliant men use gov't to smooth out the natural cycles of the economy. The socialist professors were all excited...