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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (26791)	8/18/2006 12:36:23 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543224

Nineteenth century liberalism starts with our disconnect from others and makes a non-existent into a virtue. What we have is a disconnect between where we are now and the point of this discussion, which was whether or not Lunt's examples are appropriately placed under an umbrella of libertarianism, let alone the essential counter to the welfare state. Evaluating the merits of libertarianism or nineteenth century liberalism or any other ism doesn't get us there, I don't think.

To: JohnM who wrote (26791)	8/18/2006 3:26:46 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 543224

Nineteenth century liberalism starts with our disconnect from others I can't agree with that idea. When it becomes the reigning and sole ideology in economics, you get, of course, great disasters: the worst sort of booms and busts. Overall we had more booms and busts in the 19th century when government was less interventionist in many ways. How much of that had to do with the government being less interventionist and how much had to do with other differences from the 19th century to today is very uncertain. I might agree that overall government intervention has reduced the average extent of the booms and bust, but sometimes it increases them as well. I would submit the great depression as an example of a major bust that was partially caused by, and was lengthened and deepened by government action. Namely by a tightening of the money supply as the economy was already turning down, combined with an increase in tariffs, income tax rates, and economic regulation at the beginning of or during the downturn.