The almost Great Depression of 1921
David Friedman discusses the difference between Harding’s reaction to the depression of 1921 and the Hoover-Roosevelt reaction in 1929: A Tale of Two Depressions.
While well known among libertarians and Austrian School economists, 1921 depression and the immediate (and wise) reduction in government spending has been essentially wiped from the mainstream textbooks and history lessons.
Thanks to Destroy the Ring (another great market anarchist blog I’ve recently discovered) for posting the story.
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Comments
Comment from Darren
Time: April 2, 2010, 7:42 pm
Glad you liked it, Rick!
Comment from Rob
Time: April 10, 2010, 12:00 pm
Interesting perspective on the role of government.
How far do you think we should take it? I suppose one could say that Calculus , space travel , computers, electromagnetism, relativity, quantum physics, dna, etc all have there roots in “coercion” as the taxes to fund these were collected at the “barrel of a gun” . Should we stop all state funded research and rely on private R&D? Should we privatize military? Roads? Police?
We need a way to organize our society and I will take my chances with a democratically elected government over the warloads of Somalia any day.
Comment from RickC
Time: April 2, 2010, 7:29 pm
Thanks for this - I’m always looking for good arguments to add to my own concerning the immorality of government intervention. I struggle to understand how people don’t recognize it for what it is - coercion and backed with the threat of violence.