I am a 26 year old college student and about a year away from getting my degree in Finance. To be honest 95% of what I know about economics, investing, politics, etc is from sites like this. I have been following mises.org for quite some time now, but I am not much for online forums which is why I am just now posting. A couple of years ago I took a macroeconomics course and the only thing I was taught was Keynsian economics which is very disingenuous to say the least. Even in my short knowledge of economics at that time I knew that something was wrong with Keynes theory. My most basic thought at the time was simply “If the Keynsian theory of spending my way to prosperity doesn’t work for an individual how can it possibly work for an entire country?” I knew nothing about Austrian economics and found Mises on my search for another economic theory other than Keynesian.
Anyway, I guess this is my introduction. I am just a little curious though if anybody else is around my age? I ask becauseI truly get depressed at the sorry state of intellect that exists on today’s college campus. Either way it is nice to find a site where people still think critically.
Welcome! I’m 23 years old and I found out about Austrian economics about 2 years ago (thank God). This site has given me tons of free literature as well as stimulating/provocative conversations. Stick around, you’ll learn a lot.
The very first time I picked up Henry Hazlitt’s Economics In One Lesson back when I was 13 already convinced me about free market.
But I was not “Austrian”.
Hazlitt stuck to fundamental truths about people, and simply worked up from there. Straightforward no non-sense thinking that I haven’t given up.
That said, I was going through a lot of free market transformation as I kept reading economics books since, but finding out about the Austrian School was a very recent thing. I am still more rooted in old fundamentals of economics than the more heterodox Austrian thinking.
Austrian School economists tend to study problems in isolation. They do a lot of Crusoe economics. It bothers me, because you can’t look at things in isolation, because nothing exists in isolation. And yet, the Crusoe economics of the Austrian School still helped me understand money and banking much better than I ever had in the past.
So I’d say the Crusoe economics of Austrians has its place, but one should not jump to the heterodox side so quickly. Better that you read first the mainstream that they try to contradict. The Austrian School methodology of sticking to fundamental truths about people and working from those generalities to specifics is a good supplement. But despite the flaws of positive science, despite the flaws of hard statistics, despite the flaws of historical information, despite the flaws of mathematical models and graphs - they can do just as strong a job in opening your mind to the realities of how government intervention to solve problems causes more problems than it mitigates. Current practical day-to-day reality, ultimately that’s what’s important. As are principles and logic in isolation.
I am not pro-Austrian even now at the age of 19, but I guess you could say I am on the same page, and I appreciate still the works of men like Alfred Marshall and more classical economists. But Rothbard and Mises, I agree with more often.
Don’t worry, you’re not alone. In fact if someone wrote up a stereotype of “Austrian Schoolers” you’d fit right into it. I’m 28, but my education was in English.
I’m 21, a free marketer since 16 and an austro-libertarian since 19.
I’m glad I found mises too. To be honest, it seems that most theories, whether free-market or not, never go beyond the domain of opinion. It was mises that proved my free-market stance once and for all, and raised it above mere opinion and into a certain truth. I actually never thought that would happen in my life and it seems (to me) that the whole book of understanding human action has been openned to me and that at a basic level, I am intellectually totally satisfied without even the slightest trace of confusion or need for more info. I may not know everything, but I at least know the right questions to ask and the most likely answer to many hypotheses -anyway just felt like sharing that.
I am a 20 year old who discovered Austrian economics less than a year ago. I have been on a medical leave of absence from college for the past two years, and will be going back to school as a sophomore in the fall. I alternate between being depressed that my school is so statist/collectivist and being excited to become a voice for freedom and rationality on campus. Even though I am now fascinated by economics, philosophy, history, and political science, I probably won’t bother taking any of these courses at school. Why waste my time when I can just come to Mises.org and get straight to the truth?! I am planning to major in molecular biology / biochemistry and go to medical school.
LeeO: “Even though I am now fascinated by economics, philosophy, history, and political science, I probably won’t bother taking any of these courses at school. Why waste my time when I can just come to Mises.org and get straight to the truth?!”
Wrong. Wrong approach. Maybe this was a fit of zealotry and appreciation for Mises.org. No website is the font of truth. Question everything. I think Lew Rockwell and Jeffrey Tucker would agree (at least I hope they would agree!).
(by the way, I think that is the first time I have written “lol” in my entire life. Is there a less stupid way to express that you think something is funny? I mean, I didn’t actually laugh out loud seeing as it is 2:00 am and I don’t want to wake anyone up…and also, I don’t like using smiley faces, especially the pre-made images…so maybe I need to learn how to use manual smiley faces…)
You’re right, wrong approach. Just a fit of zealotry.
I was reading a thread on Liberty Forest (Ron Paul forums) the other day with a guy who thinks that every single pro-liberty organization or group is controlled opposition serving the ruling elite. He even accuses G. Edward Griffin, the person who released me from the matrix, of being controlled opposition. He throws around terms like “dialectics,” “cognitive dissonance,” and “Total Information Dominance.” It really freaked me out and made me consider if there is another red pill to take, or many others. I’d appreciate it if you guys read the thread here and let me know what you think. It’s long but rather fascinating. The paranoid guy is called InterestedParticipant, and he himself is accused of being a NWO operative with sock puppets.
I also just found this thread when I searched “mises forums” on google. It’s called “Drinking the von Mises Kool-Aid.” I haven’t read it all yet, but it accuses Mises of being controlled opposition funded by the Rockefellers. What do you think?
. . .accuses Mises of being controlled opposition funded by the Rockefellers.
It’s so far fetched and ridiculous I feel like addressing it. The only motivation there was for Mises to write and push forth what he did was liberty; plain and simple.
Alex Jones being a paid agent for the CIA is more believable than that.
How do you know people like that aren’t funded by the powers that be in order to discredit Mises, et al?
What really matters are the arguments. Did Mises’ arguments help you achieve a libertarian-ish stance? What about this guy’s arguments, what are they doing? Think about that for a while, and you will realise what is more likely
I have read and listened to sketches of Mises’ biography, and I definitely agree with you. But the question remains: Did Mises receive funding from the Rockefeller foundation? If this is true, it could very well mean nothing at all. Or it could. It’s worth looking into, I think.
Yeah, there has always been something about Alex Jones that strikes me as not quite “right.” He seems dedicated to freedom and the truth, but discredits the movement I think by being crazy and overzealous. He scares people, and makes people think we’re all right wing “kooks.” So, is he controlled opposition? Again, worth looking into…
