Twitter

I am trying to get my twitter account to follow this blog. Please pardon my experimentation.

Economic Liberty

In the first chapter of "Capitalism and Freedom" Milton Friedman argues that economic and political liberty are connected. Specifically that economic liberty is necessary for political liberty. Friedman devotes most of the discussion to an analysis of freedom under socialism where socialism is understood as state ownership of the means of production.

His argument also applies to a host of market economists who do not see the connection. In "The End of Laissez faire" Keynes argues that semi-autonomous state agencies are the optimal form of organization. Friedman directly addresses whether such agencies could plausible be expected to remain autonomous.

Friedman's argument also directly addresses John Stuart Mill's claim in On Liberty that "the principle of individual liberty is not involved in the doctrine of Free Trade" (Chapter V pp 166-169. See Library Page ). As Friedman rightly points out, economic freedom is an important freedom in its own right. Second, the freedom that the principle of liberty seeks to protect is not somehow immune or separate from the economic sphere.

To live and believe as I see fit requires I be able to employ resources for my survival, comfort, and even promulgation of my beliefs. In a society where the state owned everything, if I disagree with the state it is no more possible to live my own life than it is to own my own property. Those who disagree with Walmart can shop, and seek employment, elsewhere. Those who disagree with the central committee have no such option.

Census Data

I'm putting this here now so that I don't lose the link :) U.S. Census Data on Business

I want to explore this data further, especially in light of the fact that government bailouts always focus on the importance of saving Huge enterprises. Fact is, on an initial glance, half of all employment is in firms of less than 500 people.

Also, is it just me, or does the reporting of these statistics seem to give the impression that bigger is more important. Notice the BIG numbers are actually summaries for firms of over 500 employees - making it look like this portion is much larger than it really is. No similar summary is given for firms between 1-499 employees.

Notice also that the 17,646,062 self-employed people are not included under the column "Paid Employees" further skewing the impression that firms over 500 are what is really important.

Here is the U.S. Census link: http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/smallbus.html#EmpSize

Ayn Rand

I've assigned Atlas Shrugged for my Radical Capitalism course. One reason I did so was because of her ongoing popularity. This article in Reason by Brian Doherty discusses how popular Atlas Shrugged is today: She's Back!

For the second reason (no pun intended) why I decided to include Atlas Shrugged in an academic classroom setting, please read and notice the quality of the comments.