Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Hayek on CNBC

Mark Thornton writes:
Congressman Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, mentions Hayek's Fatal Conceit regarding the Fed bureaucracy's ability to manage money and interest rates.
Reporter responds by asking how much confidence do you have -- "are they (central bankers) the right people to be doing this...I don't even know what to think anymore at this point."
After admitting the Fed has created asset bubble that are beginning to pop, Hensarling admits that he does not have faith in the Fed.



 RW note: It is good to see  Hensarling mentioning Hayek, Fatal Conceit (I think Fatal Conceit is the greatest title ever for an anti-central planning book.) and Austrian economics, but his "rule-based" money printing advocacy is Milton Friedman bad theory not Austrian theory and a type of Keynesianism. And Hensarling should know that in his North Beach Confession Friedman questioned his own advocacy of targeting a certain quantity of money growth.

Forther, in my North Beach Confession rport, I have a clip from Hayek where he objects to the idea of central bank money printing and makes clear that a fatal conceit includes the idea that government's can somehow know "how much money to print," thus rejecting Hensarling's rule-based money printing proposal.


2 comments:

  1. This might be the most sensible Congressman I've ever heard, except Ron Paul of course. I could hardly believe my ears. He actually sounded like Ron Paul. A toned down, more PC version of Ron Paul, but still. Cudos to him for that. Based on this clip, one might suspect that he privately wouldn't object to auditing, or even abolishing the Fed.

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  2. Yes, he does sound like Ron Paul and like Ron Paul's time in office there will be a continuing movement toward more government not less. We need people who are able to act as Andrew Jackson did regarding the FED. There is no one on the horizon like that so be prepared for more capital destruction.

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