Comments (22)

• Jens Jensen

  Yes. Sounds totally nutty.

  Published: November 20, 2009 10:32 AM

• Mac

  "Obama's metamorphosis into Ludwig von Mises sends a disturbing message to working people as well as to foreign creditors"

  Say what?

  Published: November 20, 2009 10:32 AM

• bobobberson

  I can't tell if this is good or bad..... are they just trying to drag Ludwig's name through the mud, similar to how they have relentlessly attached 'capitalism' to Bush & Co. statism.

  Published: November 20, 2009 11:43 AM

• Fed Up

  "Obama's metamorphosis into Ludwig von Mises"

  It's amazing that they are even aware of Ludwig Von Mises.

  Perhaps that libertarianism and Mises teachings are reacher a wider audience than we thought.

  However, comparing Obama to Mises is like comparing Hitler to Mother Theresa.

  Barack Obama is a leftist, socialist statist and is the exact opposite of Ludwig Von Mises.

  How far left must you be to view Obama as Mises ? For someone to view Obama as Mises, he must be so far left as to not even appear on the political compass.

  Not even Stalinists compare Obama to Mises.

  Published: November 20, 2009 12:42 PM

• Arvin Johansson Arbab

  This is just insane, but also funny.
  However, the first step to becoming an Austrian is to know that von Mises existed. Maybe we will se the writer on our side, as he reads more about what von Mises said of economics.

  Published: November 20, 2009 12:53 PM

• Brian Drake

  I'm not convinced we can take this article at face value.

  At first, I had to double-check that it wasn't The Onion, as it's hilarious satire if so intended.

  But now I'm working on the theory that the author is actually sympathetic to Austrian economics and this is his way of "coming out" while maintaining his job at a left-wing rag. When people slam "free-market ideology", they usually pick on the fake free-marketers that serve as the living strawmen for statist anti-market arguments, people like Milton Friedman or even Alan Greenspan ("disciple of Ayn Rand"). Why mention Von Mises when most people still have no clue who he is? Maybe the mention was actually to cause people to look him up....

  And writing such a blatantly absurd piece may serve as "stealth" satire. The braindead, left-wing editor is pleased, but anyone with half-a-clue will see the Keynesian position promoted as the nonsense it really is.

  Then again....Ockham's razor. I think Scott Horton's bumper sticker says it best: The Right is Wrong, The Left Is Stupid

  Published: November 20, 2009 1:01 PM

• J Cortez

  Well, it's on Counterpunch. Why would you expect anything else other than garbage? Expecting insight and intelligence there would be like expecting sensible news and commentary from Free Republic or National Review.

  The guy is obviously a hardcore social democrat that takes pop-Keynsianism too far. I think he just picked a name out of the air for hyperbole. It's almost guaranteed that the author never read anything or really understands anything Mises ever talked about.

  Still, I think it's very good that Mises' name was used though. Usually when hacks like this talk about free market expositors, they always name Milton Friedman. It's proof that Mises is getting a little more exposure out there. I think it shows the extending reach of Austro-libertarianism, that in the mind of this quasi-socialist, the answer to the question, "Who's the most free market economist?" is Mises.

  Published: November 20, 2009 1:15 PM

• mutualist

  Why not?

  Both Mises and Obama are Vulger Libertarians, after all.

  See Kevin Carson's theories for more.

  Published: November 20, 2009 1:31 PM

• Ohhh Henry

  From the counterpunch article:

  "Has he noticed the Fed shoving more than a $1 trillion under the collapsing housing market with no sign of improvement?"

  Pointing to the egregious failure of ONE TRILLION DOLLARS of stimulus is a pretty odd way of making a case for more stimulus.

  "Has he noticed that wiring his entire life savings to a faith healer in the Philippines has left his headache with no sign of improvement?"

  Guess the only thing to do is borrow more money and send it to the same place. LOL.

  Published: November 20, 2009 1:32 PM

• Curt Howland

  Mr. Anonymous and the Not-So-Spontaneous Birth of the Libertarian "Movement"

  http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1989989

  This is another "impossible" text I'm not sure enough people have seen.

  Talk about dragging people through the mud.

  Published: November 20, 2009 1:54 PM

• Matthew

  I know where this is headed....

  Year 2050...

  Tim Krugman (son of Paul): "Obama tried Mises's approach in '08 financial collapse and failed miserably! Don't you libertarians/anarchists learn from history?!? Plus, Mises was an anti-semite!

  Published: November 20, 2009 2:41 PM

• Matt Novak

  I'm with Brian Drake. It is such a ridiculous piece that I wondered while I read whether the fellow was actually creating satire.

  Perhaps I'm just hopeful that people are waking up to the fact that wealth is not contained in numbers with several zeroes tacked onto them; it is the stuff we create and exchange, hopefully one day in a truly free market.

  Published: November 20, 2009 4:21 PM

• 8

  If Obama absorbed Mises, he would resign the Presidency immediately. (Or refused to accept the offer from the voters...)

  Published: November 20, 2009 4:26 PM

• Tim

  Statement is so inane it defies classification.

  The ones making it must be so far off the political compass, that it actually spun back a half circle and landed them into the far right libertarian group.

  Which means THEY'RE Ludwig von Mises.

  Published: November 20, 2009 4:33 PM

• spellcheck

  Kevin Carson can spell better than some of his acolytes. VULGAR!

  Published: November 20, 2009 5:39 PM

• Rick

  It could be dark satire or it could be the birth of a new narrative based on the left's premise that Obama "isn't doing enough [socialism]". Anyone paying attention knows that the government's intervention is huge and despite the flowery talk of recovery, the economy is still showing signs of weakness. So rather than take any responsibility for a failed idea, they'll start blaming it on Mises, and when the economy goes farther into depression they'll have someone to displace their guilt and anger on. If that is the case, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone here. I doubt that narrative will work with anyone except the choir.

  Published: November 20, 2009 5:51 PM

• Rick

  Obama's comments were probably more for our Chinese creditors than for libertarians.

  Published: November 20, 2009 5:55 PM

• Ribald

  Perhaps the comparison is informed by Roosevelt's handling of government stimulus in the 1930's. Of course, curbing the growth of new spending is not the same as cutting spending, and cutting spending isn't the same as adopting a free market policy, even if the intent is to move in that direction.

  Of course, comparisons of Obama to Hitler are at least as silly (and are made more often). Like calling him Mises, it requires that one ignore the differences and paint the similarities to be all that matters.

  Published: November 20, 2009 8:42 PM

• EIS

  Just wait until Naomi Klein gets hold of this. "How Obama's free-market ideology and Misesian roots ruined America!"

  Published: November 21, 2009 12:03 AM

• Joe O.

  I love this little comment from the discussion board:

  "That will require public mobilization and a massive commitment of resources. $1 trillion, $2 trillion, even $3 trillion--whatever it takes--should be pumped into the jet-stream so the dollars fall to earth like a spring rain from sea to shining sea. That will get people spending again. That will put people back to work. We'll worry about the red ink later."

  The far left really needs to get a clue and study history. Whoever made a comment like the one I quoted above obviously hasn't looked at Zimbabwe, Weirmar Germany, Argentina, Yugoslavia, and numerous other nations who did EXACTLY this same thing.

  Published: November 21, 2009 6:41 AM

• Emil Suric

  "For the naive mind there is something miraculous in the issuance of fiat money. A magic word spoken by the government creates out of nothing a thing which can be exchanged against any merchandise a man would like to get. How pale is the art of sorcerers, witches, and conjurors when compared with that of the government's Treasury Department! " -Ludwig von Mises, Theory of Money and Credit.

  Published: November 21, 2009 2:11 PM

• J Cuttance

  good quote Emil Suric,
  It's worth reading Mises as much for his prose and clarity as his intellect.
  Whereas for statists the aim is to obfuscate, with Mises, the fog lifts and is gone.

  Published: November 21, 2009 6:06 PM