Saturday, January 19, 2013

Richard Ebeling Mugged in China

The economist, who discovered the "lost papers" of Ludwig von Mises, Richard Ebeling, will be my guest on the Robert Wenzel Show, a week from Sunday. In an email he tells me:
I just got back from 10 days in China, giving a one-week course on the "Principles of American Free Enterprise" at a university not far from Shanghai, with which Northwood University has an academic relationship.

The day I arrived in Shanghai I went for a walk through the historical center of the city in the evening and got "mugged"!

Luckily, they only wanted my money. If they had killed me it probably would have ruined my whole week!!

Obviously, a few days in a foreign country in which you do not understand the language is not a basis for an "expert" opinion,

However, having said that, it was clear to me that at some point China is heading for an economic fall,

There is a vast pattern of "over" and "malinvested" capital, most especially in the housing sector of the Chinese economy. Huge, giant residential, skyscraper housing complexes that in many cases are 80 percent to 90 percent empty.

This has been fostered by monetary expansion, interest rate manipulation, and government interventionist policy that directs where financial institutions allocate their investment funds.

In the late 1920s, Ludwig von Mises would walk through the center of Vienna with his young protégée, Fritz Machup, and point to the bank buildings and say, "Some day there will be a great smash."

That was the impression I had walking through some Chinese cities.

6 comments:

  1. "Principles of American Free Enterprise" ARRE YOU joking??????????????

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    1. Yeah...what principles of free enterprise? I guess he was referring to the 19th century or something.

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  2. Why would any sane person, with basic understanding of individual rights, & capitalism, ever step foot inside of China? I have no sympathy for anything that may have happened as a result of such a visit.

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    1. No sympathy for an innocent traveler? Where's your commitment to the non-aggression principle?

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    2. You're right! We shouldn't leave our houses or go anywhere especially since we live in the greatest free market ever. (Sense the sarcasm.)

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  3. "If they had killed me it probably would have ruined my whole week!!"

    rofl

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