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Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Bob Murphy’s Worst Nightmare Comes True

Trump’s victory has unleashed a tidal of hysterical nonsense from free traders, Neoconservatives, the mainstream left, the regressive left and liberals, but libertarians aren’t that happy either, so it seems.

Think about it. Most probably, Trump is about to implement:
(1) hostility to free trade agreements of the past 30 years;
(2) protectionism and tariffs;
(3) some kind of industrial policy;
(4) a wall with Mexico and a restrictive immigration policy that will lead to labour market protectionism in the US;
(5) massive infrastructure and military spending with tax cuts, which will lead to
(6) massive, massive government deficits and Keynesian stimulus.
As Trump’s policies are implemented, I predict US libertarians will go into meltdown.

Take the prominent libertarian blogger Bob Murphy. Remember Bob Murphy’s intense conspiracy theories about a proposed wall with Mexico?:



But, strangely, Bob seems to have forgotten his dire predictions of doom above and taken a weirdly agnostic view of Trump (correct me if I am wrong).

Come on, Bob. Where are your vitriolic tirades against Trump? Why aren’t you venting your spleen about the “evil” of Trump’s protectionism, Keynesian economics and the wall?

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17 comments:

  1. Trump will sort the so-called 'libertarians' into neat categories. Those that are simply concerned about the excesses of the far left will like Trump. Those that are really serious about the libertarian cult will hate him.

    Expect the latter group to shrink rapidly. Only seriously non-rational people could possibly believe the rubbish they subscribe to. Most of their readers are just young conservatives of some stripe or other.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How does not liking Trump make you far left?

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    2. Because if you read Scott Alexander's article on Trump alleged 'extremism', you realize Trump is in fact a pretty moderate, pragmatic guy ideologically. His real 'sin' is challenging the establishment. With Trump's policies crossing partisan lines, those who consider themselves to be left should consider a Trump a vehicle for uniting the country. Instead they're burning down Portland.

      tl;dr if you respond to moderation with non moderation, you are by definition an extremist.

      Delete
    3. Scott Alexander? The guy that thinks a Trump presidency will be disasterous? That Scott Alexander?

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    4. i'm referring to only one article he wrote talking about why Trump wasn't Literally Hitler.

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    5. Was it the "you're still crying wolf" one? If not, could you send a link? For the record, I don't think he's literally Hitler, but that isn't the point. He's still a liability, I can list reasons if you want.

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  2. That wall theory is crazy. Well it would be if there wasn't already that wall with Canada.

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  3. Be careful what you wish for--the US is overdue for a recession. If it comes midway through or late in Trump's term his opponents could blame it on his policies, whether they work or not.

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  4. I'd be curious to know your opinion on James "Mad dog" Matiss, Trump's possible pick for the pentagon LK, he comes across as a nut case but apparently he's well respected by both republicans and dems.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's gone on record to say the US pays a price for funding Israel's machinations in the ME. The more you know...

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    2. One can hope, I guess. Sheldon Adelson did give Trump some cashola.

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    3. Mad Dog comes across as more coherent and sensible on Israel/Palestine, but he's also praised King Playstation of Jordan and other rotten Arab dictators, called for arming rebels against Assad's government in Syria, and holds views on Iran that are hawkish, crazy and often at odds with uncontroversial facts. Those don't make come across as someone willing to chart a new course for US policy in that region, although it's possible he's changed his stances.

      Delete
  5. If you read Bannon's 2014 speech transcript at Gawker he attacks the Randian version of capitalism and the libertarian impulse in general to position the invisible hand of the market as the highest good.

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    Replies
    1. Bannon seems to be a fiscal conservative? That scares me.

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  6. Well let's see here. In my lifetime we've had:

    *COINTELPRO

    *Operation Northwoods

    *Congress war-profiteering off keeping Vietnam going.

    *Watergate

    *Staged Coups, False Flag operations, mythical WMDs in the desert, and covert dealings to overthrow sovereign governments that are too many to mention.

    *Drone strikes killing innocent 16-year old boys whose only crime was having a Muslim father.

    *Young men getting railroaded in College on just an accusation, thanks to the "Dear Colleague Letter."

    And that's just scratching the surface:

    http://yournewswire.com/2016-is-the-year-all-conspiracy-theories-were-proved-true

    http://www.businessinsider.com/5-conspiracy-theories-that-turned-out-to-be-true-2015-6

    http://list25.com/25-conspiracy-theories-that-turned-out-to-be-true

    http://www.cracked.com/article_24158_5-eerie-conspiracies-theorists-were-right-about-all-along.html

    http://www.lolwot.com/10-shocking-conspiracy-theories-which-were-actually-true

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/5-conspiracy-theories-that-turned-out-to-be-true-130654757.html

    With all that in mind, Mr. Murphy doesn't sound that far off track in talking about walls to keep us in, now does he? Why anyone would want to give more intrusionary powers to the government when looking at all of this is beyond me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. 'Trump released a You Tube video describing his priorities for his first 100 days, which didn’t say anything about infrastructure spending, tax cuts or repatriation of corporate cash held overseas.
    “The fact that he chose not to mention most of the potential policies that are most directly relevant for rate/currency markets was notable . . . “ '
    http://blogs.barrons.com/incomeinvesting/2016/11/22/expectations-for-trump-fiscal-stimulus-show-early-signs-of-fading/?mod=bol-social-tw

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  8. The reason Murphy hasn't is because like most libertarians, associated with Mises and Lew Rockwell.com, they think Trump is wonderful for liberty. It truly is amazing, compared to Trump, George W Bush was FA Hayek and they hated Bush with all their might.


    http://libertariansfortrump.org/

    ReplyDelete