One would think Matthew Yglesias had become quite well versed in Austrian Economics by now or at least slightly familiar, but alas that is not the case. Sadly all one can do is shake ones head as I think it is a lost cause and he really is not interested in learning why it was Ron Paul stated that “We are all Austrians now.”
Here is his latest attempt to confuse and befuddle as he leaves one discombobulated and none the wiser. Yglesias crawls along as he confounds fact and fiction and then reaches his crescendo of confusion when he states:
“Many of the original Austrians found their business cycle ideas discredited by the Great Depression, in which the bust was clearly not self-correcting and country after country stimulated real output by abandoning the gold standard and engaging in deficit spending. Then for a long time after World War II, policy elites more or less agreed on a combination of “automatic” fiscal stabilizers (the deficit naturally goes up during recessions as tax revenues fall and social service outlays rise) and interest rate cuts. And it worked, so nobody much cared about Austrian economics outside of crank circles.”
Of course, no prestigious circle cared much about Austrian economics except the one that matters most that gave F.A. Hayek a Noble prize in 1974 for his pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and his penetrating analysis of the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena.
If Matthew or anyone else wants to see the error of their ways it is a quick click away and a short read to the real story behind America’s Great Depression.
