Talk:617 - Money, Power and Sociopathy (Competition, Randroids, Economists)

Austrian School and Ayn Rand -- Octavio 13:21, 19 August 2012 (PDT)

I thought episode 617 was a critique of Ayn Rand's philosophy, not a celebration of it. Like Ayn Rand's Objectivism, the "Austrian School" celebrates unfettered, unregulated capitalism.

Robin, you described Hayek's views as being "bottom up." Nothing could be further from the truth. Austrian School economists are opposed to trade unions, opposed to anti-poverty programs, and opposed to doing anything during a recession or depression. Hayek and his ilk should be called the "Marie Antoinette" School of Economics: Let them eat cake. Do nothing, because the market knows best.

Re: Austrian School and Ayn Rand -- Robin 08:51, 21 August 2012 (PDT)

Thanks for the correction. Possibly you'd agree that Hayek is 'less top down' than Keynes? I know more about Keynesianism than I do about the Austrian School. My summary was influenced by part 2 of the video, which uses "bottom up" to refer to Hayek. To some extent it is a false dichotomy, since both economists won Nobel prizes, which is hardly likely if they had serious disagreements with TPTB - which I'll point out when I play part 2.