And the caricature libertarian Jeffrey Tucker tells us why Trump is a “fascist” for wanting to do so:
I mean, really, if you go back and listen to some of these libertarians on Trump, you can see that some of their rhetoric was as crazy as that of the unhinged left. It doesn’t matter whether conservatives, liberals or leftists depart from the failed laissez faire program of free markets and free trade, to these half-baked libertarian crackpots, everybody who does so is a fascist.
For the unhinged left, anybody who departs from their failed program of open borders, mass immigration and multiculturalism is a fascist. Tucker probably agrees. These people should just join forces at this point.
In defense of libertarians, their proposal for open borders makes sense for Hong Kong and Chile, which have minimal welfare states compared to Europe.
ReplyDeleteIt would not make sense for Scandinavia or Germany to do the same.
From the latter half of the 20th century onwards, Hong Kong had significant state intervention. Widespread public housing to house the influx of those fleeing China, health care inspired by the NHS, entirely state owned land, and British funded military spending. In addition it is a port state and city state, so had a headstart from day one. Therefore Friedman and co pointing to it as a free market paradise is utterly mistaken. He talks about freedom when Hong Kong never really had Universal suffrage due to the influence of business clans that threatened workers with job losses if they engaged in political protest. So much for free markets without cronyism...
DeleteOh, and LK, I thought you might appreciate this:
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V2YawHq-Zeg
A pretty accurate vision of anarcho-capitalism if you ask me. An caps are even more disconnected from reality than Bolsheviks and that's really saying something.
Hitler did depart from laissez faire economics. As the economist Joan Robinson put it, "Hitler found a cure against unemployment before Keynes was finished explaining it." Keynesian policies aren't inherently fascist, but they certainly can be part of a fascist system of government.
ReplyDeleteHitler also oversaw widespread privatisation. Check out the papers by Germa Bel on nazi privatisation for more info. Mussolini originally implemented laissez faire economics during his earlier years in power. Several south American dictatorships used free market policies, like that of Pinochet and Jorge Rafael Videla. My point is that fascism has never had a specific economic ideology. It varies from those on the right (Hitler) to those on the left (Strasser).
DeleteFranco also allowed a fair bit of economic liberalization before his death in Spain.
DeleteSo, Trump is both FDR's biggest fan AND the avatar of a "foreign ideology"? FDR was a Manchuria candidate I guess.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I have read the exact same description on Murphy's blog but in place of Trump: Obama, Bush I, Bush II, Lincoln, FDR, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Krugman, me, LK, Daniel Kuehn, Scott Sumner, and anyone else who rejects their ancappery.
ReplyDelete