Doc Thought

You will often hear the claim that those supporting socialism or any form of collectivism want "something for nothing."    Do they still get the benefit of the doubt?  I mean, do we still believe that the folks supporting collectivism in whatever form are really aiming at something for *nothing?*   I frankly can't believe it any longer.  I think they know exactly that what they want is "something from somebody else."   Could there really be some left who think the state somehow produces wealth from which to distribute?  I suppose.  But it can't be an appreciable number any longer.   I recommend we no longer give the collectivists even the benefit of the doubt in our common speech.   There has never been, in the history of the world, 'something' for 'nothing.'  Ever.  And they know it.   I think the reason so many are attracted to the socialists or collectivists, is that they have no experience with ...

Thanks to our very fuzzy state indoctrination, many think that property rights means a right to property, rather than a right to defend the property /goods one has either created or for which one has honestly traded. "Right to property" vaguely subsumes a right to have property of some sort provided by 'somebody' -- usually the faceless, nebulous 'country,' or 'people,' or 'state,' or 'taxpayers,' or 'government.' Since every material value / good / commodity / service is brought to a usable and available state by the work of actual individuals spending a portion of their lifetime, life effort, and life thought - literally using up some of their time,thought, effort on this earth - it is a contradiction to say that one individual has a 'right' to be provided with any property / good /service at all. Why is it a contradiction? Because a right to 'be provided' something that requires the expenditure of another pe...

From Mises "Human Action" terms inflationism and deflationism, inflationist and deflationist, signify the poIitica1 programs aiming at inflation and deflation in the sense of big cash-induced changes in purchasing power. The semantic revolution which is one of the characteristic features of our day has also changed the traditional connotation of the terms inflation and deflation. What many people today call inflation or deflation is no longer the great increase or decrease in the supply of money, but its inexo- rable consequences, the general tendency toward a rise or a fall in com- modity prices and wage rates. This innovation is by no means harmless. It plays an important role in fomenting the popular tehdencies toward in- flationism. First of all there is no longer any term available to signify what inflation used to signify. It is impossible to fight a policy which you cannot name. Statesmen and writers no longer have the opportunity of resorting to a ter- minology accept...