Comments (5)

• fundamentalist

  Another great job of trashing a popular fallacy! Thanks! I hear similar arguments all of the time. The world is far more complex and interconnected, today, they claim. But as Rothbard points out, human nature has not changed in at least 10,000 years, and economics is the study of human nature. Besides, options and futures, some of the derivatives of today, were invented by the Dutch in the 17th century. And bill of exchange weren't that much different from CDO's.

  Published: June 25, 2009 9:13 AM

• Rajesh Dhawan

  Wise words indeed. Having lived in both horse and buggy as well as the jet age in India I can attest to the wisdom of the article. In fact while going to work I pass the IT city of the area and where I work it is a rural area where it still is horse/camel and buggy era.

  In a partial transition from a socialist economy when I started working 20 years ago (http://objectiveman.blogspot.com/2009/03/living-under-socialism.html) to a freer economy today, I have seen the evils of Socialism at close quarters.

  The principles of a capitalist society have nothing to do with technology (besides encouraging it) and everything to do with what Ayn Rand said it's about protecting the rights of the smallest minority on earth - the individual. Ensure the rights of individuals and we will see the rapid transition from the jet age to the space age.

  Published: June 25, 2009 12:59 PM

• mushindo

  To me, the opening line of this article illustrates that however much the content of debate remains the same down the generations, the context in which it is conducted shifts.

  Rothbard's positioning of the words 'why, youll take us back to the horse and buggy' was, I presume, the common statist objection to his brand of anarchy at the time the article was written.

  40-odd years on, I dont see these words as a cliche any longer. Quite the reverse. I regard ( and indeed have used) these very words as forming a valid objection to government intervention in anything! For it is clear that nothing impedes progress, whether social, economic, or technological more than the stifling briof regulation and interventionism.

  Published: June 26, 2009 6:44 AM

• J.K. Baltzersen

  Technological development does tend to be real progress.

  However, I would make 2 points:

  1. Technological development has given authorities an unprecedented means of surveillance.
  2. Technological development is not always clearly progress. Take the average PC. It generally has faster technology, but this is often wasted on all sorts of software features. Hence, Windows applications today do not generally run faster than Windows applications ten years ago. Now, I do not deny that that's a choice made in the marketplace -- nor that that's where such decisions should be made. I am only saying that we cannot always make a one-sided case for real technological progress.

  Published: June 26, 2009 9:22 AM

• greg

  Finally, someone came to the point. Our society advances on the back of freedom, laws to protect that freedom and technological advances.

  So many of the past articles have been hammering the evils of fiat money and misallocation of resources. Well, the market is much smarter than you give it credit for and adjustments are made in an instant.

  But it is technology and productivity advances that truly take our economy to the next level. It has nothing to do with money supply, it has everything to do with freedom and protection of property rights.

  Published: June 26, 2009 12:54 PM