Wednesday, December 28, 2011

It's Okay for Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman to Prepare for Disaster, But Not Ron Paul

So says, Modeled Behavior's Adam Ozimek.

It should be noted that when Ozimek discusses Ron Paul's "crazy beliefs about the probability of economic collapse." He is talking about Ron Paul's investments in gold stocks and gold itself. Yet, Ozimek, along with others who have brought up the topic, never, ever mention that Dr. Paul's portfolio has skyrocketed because of his investment in gold and gold related stocks. And that he is likely the most successful investor in the history of Congress.

But somehow this is not okay, according to Ozimek, but Romney and Huntsman have the green light to stockpile two years worth of dried food:
If Romney and Huntsman are actually prepping, what does it tell them about them? Should this be considered a “crazy belief” of theirs as Paul’s prepping is for him? I don’t think so. Their preparations don’t tell us much about how probable they actually think a disaster is, but rather reflect them adhering to a tradition.
Though Ozimek then contradicts himself and  appears to think that if Romney and Huntsman are storing food it is crazy, but it still is okay, becasue, and this is crazy, if others hold the same crazy idea, it is okay.
And at the very least religious beliefs are so widespread that I don’t think they all have the same correlation with other crazy beliefs as, say, believing an society destroying economic collapse is coming soon.
Screw analysis, screw theoretical understanding of the economy, according to Ozimek, it's all about how many others agree with your crazy idea.

Crazy man, crazy.

5 comments:

  1. Mormons are taught in church about self reliance and preparedness. Food storage is especially emphasized.

    Romney and Huntsman are not Austrians, so they don't understand the fundamentals of the economy, and why the collapse will happen. They simply are obeying advice from church leaders to get prepared.

    Definitely is hypocritical that Dr. Paul is crazy for preparing and Romney and Huntsman are not.

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  2. What I don't understand about this is that economic collapses happen ALL THE TIME. It even happened herein the 1930's and 1970's. How is it crazy to prepare for something that is going to happen?

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  3. Romney and Huntsman stockpile not because they believe in economic collapse, necessarily, but because they are Mormons. Self-reliance is a tenet of their religion, which teaches that members should store no less than a 1 year supply of necessities.

    The reason? Periodic calamities of various stripe are predictable. The timing of these calamities is not.

    Full disclosure, I do not know these men. It is possible that they DO expect an economic collapse someday. I merely point out their religious beliefs to underscore that in their case 'prepping' does not by itself indicate a lack of faith in the economy.

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  4. Ludwig von Mises said about the monetary system: "The whole system is the acme of the short-run principle."

    So it should not be a surprise that any thinking beyond the immediate moment is looked upon with scorn.

    It doesn't matter if you're saving cash, gold, food, water....if you're saving *anything* you're apparently very strange.

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  5. So when you prepare for disaster based on a priori economic theory you're insane, but if you prepare for disaster just to prepare for disaster you're sensible.

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