I was speaking to one of my socialist acquaintances, and just found out he got back from Socialism 2008. Check out the topics of the schedule. Similar topics that we have, but in support of much of what we are typically against, or against much of what we typically support, if that makes any sense.
Their “Mises” only seems to have 10 books on economics. And most of those are by Marx and Engels. I’m not sure why they use “economic research” in the title.
Because of that title, I was actually looking forward to hear the other side of the story. But, suffice it to say, there was little “economic reseach”.
The reason I want to hear the other side of the story, is not for me to take on the Socialist philosophy, but to better understand why individuals support socialism/socialist economics, and to be able to counter it. I think it is good to have an understanding, but not necessarily agree with the other side within contemporary and historical terms.
I’ve been trying to understand this as well and have made genuine efforts to grasp some of the socialist theories. But sadly, the vast majority of socialists base their ideology on emotion, rather than reason. The main driving force seems to be an irrational hatred of the free market and an equally irrational trust in whomever is “on their side”. For example, most don’t know or care how exactly central planning would work, only that they trust the planners to work it out.
Naturally, I’m not claiming that there are no informed and rational socialists. Just that they are rare.
I feel and have observed similar sentiments. How do you get through the emotion to the rational center of the human mind? I guess if we knew the answer to that, we wouldn’t be living in the world we live.
Yup, leftist ideology is based on emotion and misinformation. These are the people who believe that minimum wages, unions, regulation, and high taxes are good things. The further you move to the left the more absurd the people get.
There really isn’t much to comprehend in their ideology besides with what Mises and Hayek already dealt with. Leftists are good at heart but misguided. You have to show them that the state cannot allocate resources as efficiently as a market, that markets eliminate involuntary unemployment, that pollution is due to government regulation, and that all forms of government regulation and taxation are harmful. You also have to explain the business cycle in Austrian terms and how to avoid it.
But you seriously have to accept the fact that the further left you get, the more irrational your beliefs are. A perfect example would be bell hooks.
This reminds of a quote of Milton Friedman that goes along: “I admire leftists for the softness of their hearts, but unfortunately, it also extends to their heads as well.”
Fear of the unknown. Capitalism is chaotic, no one can see the future and predict what technologies will exist much less which ones will be picked by fickle consumers. So the socialists sell control over the chaos. Look at the old “Get Smart” show; the good side was “Control” while the evil side was “Chaos”. It should have been reversed. The building of prosperity is a chaotic process. In 1900, most of the largest companies were rail roads with some financial and Standard Oil. Look at the number of Rail Roads in the Dow today. The winners and losers are unknown and must stand the test of the market place to succeed.
Socialism benefits few at the cost to the many. The state with its monopoly on violence then becomes the one organization with the power to pick winners and losers over market preferences. The state can for example stop Japanese auto makers from selling cars in the US helping US auto makers and their suppliers. The result is that consumers pay higher prices for the goods they desire.
