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Daily Kos lends a hand

14 comments

Amazingly, the leftwing blog Daily Kos has posted a really helpful gloss on the Hayek vs Keynes rap!

Written by Rafe

March 2nd, 2010 at 1:25 pm

Posted in Uncategorized

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14 Responses to 'Daily Kos lends a hand'

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  1. Just because you’re a lefty doesn’t mean you’re stupid, you just want redistribution.

    A lefty could maximise their utility function by asking for macroeconomic discipline and efficient taxes rated high enough to fund their fantasies.

    Semi Regular Libertarian

    2 Mar 10 at 1:48 pm

  2. What degree of redistribution tips you over the edge of leftism?

    I’m guessing the LDP tax policy doesn’t, but where does it occur?

    Steve Edney

    2 Mar 10 at 1:52 pm

  3. but the Daily Kos are usually on the nutsier side of leftism

    jtfsoon

    2 Mar 10 at 1:54 pm

  4. The votes in the poll are interesting. Hayek wins by a mile. What’s going there.

    JC

    2 Mar 10 at 1:59 pm

  5. SRL:

    Some 60% of the US population no longer pays federal income tax. How does moral hazard git into the picture?

    Redistribution eventually ends up eating the universe.

    JC

    2 Mar 10 at 2:02 pm

  6. Forget moral hazard for a moment. Their problem is that taxes have a definite negative impact on output, as well as being rather unpredictable and variant to the tax rate.

    Moral hazard on it’s own in that case would foster a sense of entitlement to an ever growing group of people.

    This again adds trouble to the outcomes mentioned above. I foolishly presumed their fantasies would be well designed.

    Semi Regular Libertarian

    2 Mar 10 at 2:12 pm

  7. Good points.

    JC

    2 Mar 10 at 2:20 pm

  8. Some 60% of the US population no longer pays federal income tax.

    And in Australia Costello boasted that many families are effectively not paying tax because of all the benefits. Never mind the churn, we have an election to win! This has become ridiculous. Conservative governments may say they want to reduce welfare dependency but they are lying, they only want to target particular groups so as to enhance their electoral prospects. I’ll believe conservatives are serious about welfare blowouts when they have the guts to attack the problem of welfare payments made to those who are not in need of financial support.

    John H.

    2 Mar 10 at 2:24 pm

  9. Yes John, that is why classical liberal commentators (who are not usefully described as conservatives) like Andrew Norton and Sinc remind us of John Howard’s record on taxing and spending.

    Rafe

    2 Mar 10 at 2:30 pm

  10. I love this line from it:
    “Trying to cure a recession with more cheap credit is like trying to cure chemotherapy with more cancer.”

    Andrew Reynolds

    2 Mar 10 at 3:49 pm

  11. And yet I don’t think Heyek would be adverse to Quantitative easing if it broke the back of deflation… at least if it was done in a small dose.

    JC

    2 Mar 10 at 3:51 pm

  12. JC,
    If deflation were happening due to a lack of money in the system (i.e. a Birdian fixed quantity) – and remember inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon and therefore so is deflation – then I would expect that Hayek would support some additional money being injected into the system.

    Andrew Reynolds

    2 Mar 10 at 4:18 pm

  13. Thanks for pointing this out, Sinc… the original video was good, but this commentary is excellently written and very fair.

    skepticlawyer

    4 Mar 10 at 12:43 am

  14. Hayek wins by a mile. What’s going there.

    It was linked to from Cafe Hayek.

    Greego

    5 Mar 10 at 12:18 pm

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