milton friedman

Anthropologist and activist, David Graeber wrote 6 essays between 2004 and 2010 and they are now compiled under the title “Revolutions in Reverse”. We here in the United States have been told there is no alternative to markets and capitalism, but in these essays he comes up with some observations about how to go about re-imagining lives that have meaning and purpose. His idea of freedom lies somewhere in the region between Somalia and Pandora. He was there at the beginning of Occupy Wall Street and his ideas have taken root in many Occupies. What follows are some of those ideas that beat new neural paths in my brain and repaved some old ones. Read below the fold...

In John Perkins' latest book "Hoodwinked", he compares recent CEOs of American companies to mercenaries.  He says that in the good old days of post war America, CEOs were seen more like soldiers with loyalty to their company and community being number one.  Now, CEOs are loyal to themselves and the guys who hire them.  CEOs used to work for the good of country/company/community, but after 1980 they turned into hired guns who worked for the short term profit and their bonuses.  It was a return to the Robber Baron age only much worse.  Perkins had a professor of Business Management, Prof. Read below the fold...

Cross-posted from Real Economics.

Most of the economic ideas behind the libertarian movement in the United States today can be directly traced to “Austrian school” economist Ludwig von Mises. This is the crowd whose persistent answer to almost all government mismanagement of the economy is to return to the gold standard. Read below the fold...

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You were brilliant, you were evil, you were an inspiration, you were racist, you loved freedom above all things, you were an enabler of neoimperialist corporatism...that's what I've heard and more. But here's what I remember about you
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