Paul Krugman went off on a bizarre rant, yesterday. He blogged against "libertarianism." But it was a distorted view of libertarianism that has nothing to do with pure libertarianism.
His first point of attack was Paul Ryan:
Paul Ryan thinks that we’re living in an Ayn Rand novel. More to the point, however, the libertarian vision of the society we actually have bears little resemblance to reality.Who the hell thinks Ryan is a libertarian? Here are just a few of the posts in which I have written about Ryan, which shows he is nowhere near being a libertarian:
- Did Paul Ryan Game the CBO Scoring System?
- Krugman Konfusion (Paul Ryan Edition)
- Paul Ryan as Military Keynesian
- Ugh, The Clueless Gold Hater Joe Weisenthal
- Now Paul Ryan is a Hayekian
- More Absurd Promotion of Paul Ryan as a "Radical Free Market" Advocate
- Tim Carney Bazookas Paul Ryan
- The Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan's Brother Money Connection
- Paul Ryan: The Koch Brothers Get Their Man
- Paul Ryan on Attack
- Paul Ryan: 'Biggest 'Brown Noser'
- Ben Swann Smacks Paul Ryan Hard
- Now Boehner Defends Paul Ryan's TARP Vote
- Grover Norquist Takes On Paul Ryan and the War Party
- Romney Budget Plan + Ryan Budget Plan = Total B.S.
- Obama Campaign: Ryan Kisses the Ring of Adelson
- FOX News: Ryan Budget Plan Doesn't Actually Slash the Budget
- Reagan’s Former Budget Chief, David Stockman, Rips Paul Ryan
- Paul Ryan Insider Trading Thief
- Senior Cato VP Goes GaGa Over Paul Ryan
- VIDEO: Ron Paul on Paul Ryan
- Paul Ryan as a Team Player
- Ezra Klein: Ryan Isn't a Deficit Hawk
- Ron Paul on Paul Ryan
- Bought and Paid for Paul Ryan
- The Marketing of Paul Ryan - by, Justin Raimondo
- Cato Propaganda about Republicans and Paul Ryan
- Did Paul Ryan Misunderstand Ayn Rand?
- Slick Paul Ryan on TARP
- What the Wisconsin Republican Liberty Caucus Doesn't Want You to Know About Paul Ryan
- Paul Ryan's Slick Healthcare Plan
- Paul Ryan's Ballsy Attempt to Create A Huge Tax Reduction for His Crony Bow Hunters
- How Much of a Micro-Tax Nut Job is Paul Ryan?
- Don't Confuse Paul Ryan with Ron Paul
From there, Krugman comments on the supposed current:
trendy idea among libertarians that we can make things much better by replacing the welfare state with a basic guaranteed income.This may be a position held by the Koch-funded crowd and libwaps (who would like to be funded by the Koch brothers), but it has ZERO to do with pure libertarians. Laurence Vance explained:
Then Krugman goes on:It is the wackiest “libertarian” non-libertarian proposal I have ever seen. Or perhaps it is the wackiest non-libertarian “libertarian” proposal I have ever seen. I’m not sure yet. Either way, it is nothing short of libertarian statism.For many years now, some libertarians have promoted educational vouchers in the name of “school choice.” But as I have pointed out many times (see here, here, here, here, andhere), since the state has no business funding any child’s education, government-issued vouchers for education are just another income redistribution scheme like food stamps, WIC, TANF, and refundable tax credits.But support for vouchers is a mild aberration compared to the latest wacky “libertarian” scheme.Writing in “The Libertarian Case for a Basic Income,” Matt Zwolinski argues not only that “guaranteeing a minimum income to the poor is better than our current system of welfare,” but that “it can be justified by libertarian principles.”...In a recent article of mine—“Shall We Abandon the Non-Aggression Principle?”—I pointed out that once you reject the libertarian non-aggression principle (see Zwolinski’s rejectionhere and Michael Rozeff’s reply here), you open the door to justifying state aggression. The state taking money from some and giving it to others is an act of naked aggression.The federal government’s welfare programs don’t need to be reformed, simplified, better managed, made more efficient, block granted to the states, used as a form of reparations, or made less bureaucratic, they simply need to be abolished.
For sure there are wasteful and unnecessary government regulations — but not nearly as many as libertarians want to believe.Here, Krugman again misses the point that Vance makes, the state is about aggression and pure libertarians object to all government aggression. Thus, Krugman may be arguing against a distorted carnival mirror version of libertarianism, but he isn't coming close to touching the arguments and positions of pure libertarians. His attack is really against supporters of government who are pretending to be libertarians.
In other words, Krugman is attacking a distortion mirror, charging that it isn't reality. Paulie, it really appears you have no idea how far from reality your discussion is. You are really fighting a battle from inside the distortion, fantasy land yourself.
Let's see you, Paulie, take on a real libertarian, say Murray Rothbard.
Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher of EconomicPolicyJournal.com and author of The Fed Flunks: My Speech at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Krugman probably knows he's attacking straw men, but he also knows his groveling fans have no idea what libertarianism is.
ReplyDeleteProfiting off the ignorance of your customers, selling them snake oil. His fears of capitalism all stem from projection.
Part of Krugman's job is to keep people who don't know what libertarianism really is from ever learning what it really is. He's just doing the job he is very well paid for.
ReplyDelete