Re: Free market vs. totalitarianism

My comments below are in response to the following:

>From: Carl Lumma <clumma@nni.com>
>
>Rosati's post was excellent. Bill Alves also made an excellent point:
>
>>First, we certainly do not have to make a binary choice between free market
>>and totalitarianism!
>
>In a very important way, it's always a free market. If there is an
>opressive "Ministry of Culture", it has done something to survive -- large
>publishing companies such as Columbia/Sony (or whoever sat on Delusion for
>so many years) are acting as "Ministries of Culture" here. Digital storage
>will soon take away their bread and butter, and we will see if they come up
>with something else to survive on. As for the Ministries of Culture in
>Europe, more power to them -- I understand they've done great things to
>earn their keep!

Frederick Hayek would insist that there is no stable middle ground between
the free market and totalitarianism. He said that controls beget more
controls. I think the relevant reference is "The Road to Serfdom".

So, it's always a free market? Did Nazi Germany have a free market? Did the
Soviet Union? If an oppressive institution has survived, obviously it has
done something to survive. Namely, oppressing the people it should have
been serving. What, for example, did Hitler's government do to survive for
as long as it did? It certainly wasn't protecting the rights of its
citizens.

John Link

John Link

>Frederick Hayek would insist that there is no stable middle ground between
>the free market and totalitarianism. He said that controls beget more
>controls. I think the relevant reference is "The Road to Serfdom".

Sounds like gobbletygook.

>So, it's always a free market? Did Nazi Germany have a free market? Did the
>Soviet Union?

Yes, yes, and yes.

>What, for example, did Hitler's government do to survive for as long as it
>did?

Whose governemnt? It's just one group of people attacking another. The
attacking group in this case was very successful at restoring the post-WWI
economy. Hitler was once TIME's man of the year.

>It certainly wasn't protecting the rights of its citizens.

Who said it had to do that?

-C.

>From: Carl Lumma <clumma@nni.com>
>
>>Frederick Hayek would insist that there is no stable middle ground between
>>the free market and totalitarianism. He said that controls beget more
>>controls. I think the relevant reference is "The Road to Serfdom".
>
>Sounds like gobbletygook.
>
>>So, it's always a free market? Did Nazi Germany have a free market? Did the
>>Soviet Union?
>
>Yes, yes, and yes.
>
>>What, for example, did Hitler's government do to survive for as long as it
>>did?
>
>Whose governemnt? It's just one group of people attacking another. The
>attacking group in this case was very successful at restoring the post-WWI
>economy. Hitler was once TIME's man of the year.
>
>>It certainly wasn't protecting the rights of its citizens.
>
>Who said it had to do that?

Ayn Rand. See, for example, "{Capitalism, The Unknown Ideal".
Also, Milton Friedman. See "Capitalims and Freedom".

John Link