B.K. Marcus Archives
Semantic Tools and Faulty Nomenclature
Ludwig von Mises on maintaining the word "capitalism":
It would be correct to describe this state of affairs in this way: Today many or some groups of business are no longer liberal; they do not advocate a pure market economy and free enterprise, but, on the contrary, are asking for various measures of government interference with business. But it is entirely misleading to say that the meaning of the concept of capitalism has changed and that "mature capitalism" — as the Americans call it — or "late capitalism" — as the Marxians call it — is characterized by restrictive policies to protect the vested interests of wage earners, farmers, shopkeepers, artisans, and sometimes also of capitalists and entrepreneurs. The concept of capitalism is as an economic concept immutable, if it means anything, it means market economy. One deprives oneself of the semantic tools to deal adequately with the problems of contemporary history and economic policies if one acquiesces in a different terminology. This faulty nomenclature becomes understandable only if we realize that the pseudo-economists and the politicians who apply it want to prevent people from knowing what the market economy really is. They want to make people believe that all the repulsive manifestations of restrictive government policies are produced by "capitalism." (Human Action, chapter 15)
Two New Audio Essays
From Gennady Stolyarov:
"Middle-of-the-Road Policy Leads to Socialism"
by Ludwig von Mises
"Mises and the Role of the Economist in Public Policy"
by Murray N. Rothbard
synonym of imbecility
From Human Action: The Scholars Edition, chapter 15: "The Market":
The creative genius is at variance with his fellow citizens. As the pioneer of things new and unheard of he is in conflict with their uncritical acceptance of traditional standards and values. In his eyes the routine of the regular citizen, the average or common man, is simply stupidity. For him "bourgeois" is a synonym of imbecility. The frustrated artists who take delight in aping the genius's mannerism in order to forget and to conceal their own impotence adopt this terminology. These Bohemians call everything they dislike "bourgeois." Since Marx has made the term "capitalist" equivalent to "bourgeois," they use both words synonymously. In the vocabularies of all languages the words "capitalistic" and "bourgeois" signify today all that is shameful, degrading, and infamous.*
* The Nazis used "Jewish" as a synonym of both "capitalist" and "bourgeois."
Seasteading
June 14, 2008 11:24 PM
| Comments (11)
to deal with men as the breeder deals with his cattle
May 27, 2008 5:21 PM
| Comments (3)
The Driver: The Human Story Behind the Economic History
May 21, 2008 5:22 PM
| Comments (2)
The Evolution of an Anti-Anti-Communist
April 1, 2008 7:37 AM
| Comments (5)
The War Against the South and Its Consequences
March 20, 2008 11:33 AM
| Comments (5)
The Road to Civil War
March 19, 2008 4:49 PM
| Comments (3)
Civic Religion
February 19, 2008 1:26 PM
| Comments (7)
Abolition: Who Deserved Compensation for What?
February 4, 2008 8:37 PM
| Comments (17)
Rothbard on the value of The Value of Money
January 11, 2008 11:03 AM
| Comments (0)
Best Book on Economics since Human Action
January 10, 2008 3:04 PM
| Comments (4)
Why Cicero?
January 3, 2008 8:51 PM
| Comments (0)
Free Audiobook: Gold, Peace, and Prosperity
January 1, 2008 11:51 AM
| Comments (3)
Free Audiobook: "The Market for Liberty"
December 26, 2007 12:17 PM
| Comments (9)
Rooting for Old Man Potter
December 24, 2007 12:41 PM
| Comments (29)
HBD, Ludwig
September 29, 2007 11:07 AM
| Comments (1)
Interesting Timing
July 6, 2007 1:20 PM
| Comments (0)
inflation in the afterlife?
June 18, 2007 12:23 AM
| Comments (2)
Statistics: Achilles' Heel of Government
May 30, 2007 12:34 PM
| Comments (2)
Rothbardian Rights Theory, circa 1959
May 18, 2007 11:49 AM
| Comments (1)
Is Spider-Man the alternative to law-enforcement socialism?
May 15, 2007 12:01 PM
| Comments (4)
BUSINESS WEEK warns against privatizing roads
May 2, 2007 1:00 PM
| Comments (9)
Why Not Capital Day?
May 1, 2007 1:23 AM
| Comments (38)
Left Coast Road Socialism and the Market-friendly Governor
April 30, 2007 10:16 AM
| Comments (4)
Fairness with Your Coffee?
April 23, 2007 11:45 AM
| Comments (1)
The Tepid Movement Before Mises
April 12, 2007 8:25 AM
| Comments (6)
Was Rothbard an Auromaniac?
March 6, 2007 12:05 AM
| Comments (12)
Was Sumner an Anarchist?
February 23, 2007 5:00 PM
| Comments (8)
Did FDR Forget The Forgotten Man?
February 23, 2007 9:18 AM
| Comments (2)
The Socialist Calculator Debate
February 15, 2007 11:25 AM
| Comments (6)
The Economics of Groundhog Day (the movie)
February 2, 2007 9:48 AM
| Comments (3)
Viral Liberty
January 30, 2007 10:21 PM
| Comments (1)
Industrial Media
January 28, 2007 9:36 PM
| Comments (2)
Ethics of Liberty Audiobook Podcast
January 12, 2007 10:36 AM
| Comments (19)
Curmudgeonly Wishes for the New Year
December 31, 2006 5:33 PM
| Comments (4)
The Swedish Central Bank Prize in Economics
October 13, 2006 2:49 PM
| Comments (13)
Fighting for the truth
September 29, 2006 4:01 PM
| Comments (3)
FaNL audio, chapter 2: "The Libertarian Creed"
May 19, 2006 3:07 PM
| Comments (0)
Why Gold?
March 28, 2006 3:03 PM
| Comments (32)
Ron Paul Predicts Impeachment
March 3, 2006 10:24 AM
| Comments (25)
March Is Rothbard Month
March 2, 2006 4:48 PM
| Comments (0)
"an affirmation of permanence"
February 4, 2006 12:01 PM
| Comments (5)
Batman versus the State
February 2, 2006 6:27 PM
| Comments (4)
Rothbardian Baby
January 24, 2006 7:58 AM
| Comments (4)
How the Stewardess Lost Her Stripes
January 4, 2006 7:32 AM
| Comments (17)
Ludwig's Mother: In Her Own Words
December 9, 2005 7:51 AM
| Comments (1)
Ludwig's Mother Remembers
December 5, 2005 12:30 PM
| Comments (3)
Listen to MU05!
November 2, 2005 3:26 PM
| Comments (0)
Mises quotes from the NYU seminar
September 9, 2005 9:02 AM
| Comments (2)
Concise Guide to Price Gouging
September 2, 2005 10:08 AM
| Comments (20)
blowing bubbles
August 30, 2005 10:30 PM
| Comments (3)
Shostak on Velocity
August 19, 2005 12:53 PM
| Comments (5)
Batman versus Capitalism
July 29, 2005 12:25 PM
| Comments (0)
free-market money cranks
July 5, 2005 12:28 PM
| Comments (3)
iTunes and the Mises.org Podcast
July 1, 2005 2:09 PM
| Comments (8)
The Economics and Emotions of the Minimum Wage
April 14, 2005 11:52 AM
| Comments (16)
The Concise Guide To Economics
April 5, 2005 3:36 PM
| Comments (6)
Economics for Actors
February 9, 2005 11:46 AM
| Comments (1)
Rothbard Speaks
December 14, 2004 5:44 PM
| Comments (1)
Captain-Capitalism!
November 14, 2004 10:10 PM
| Comments (2)
The Spectrum Should Be Private Property: The Economics, History, and Future of Wireless Technology
October 28, 2004 10:46 PM
| Comments (15)
libertarian socialism?
October 21, 2004 6:30 PM
| Comments (25)
Hernando de Soto to speak at UNC
October 21, 2004 3:18 PM
| Comments (5)
Google's World
October 14, 2004 4:35 PM
| Comments (6)
Paranoia versus Scholarship
October 11, 2004 12:21 AM
| Comments (0)
Afternoons with Ralph Raico
September 28, 2004 9:57 PM
| Comments (2)
Radio Free Rothbard
September 28, 2004 12:17 AM
| Comments (0)
Radio Free Germany
September 23, 2004 7:27 PM
| Comments (3)
Mises on Blood for Oil
September 19, 2004 10:45 PM
| Comments (3)
The Monetary Economics of Thurston Howell III
August 31, 2004 8:59 AM
| Comments (19)
Recent Comments