Steven Horwitz
CP readers might be interested in two posts I have up at other blogs this morning (don't worry, I still love you guys):
1. I'm guest-blogging this week at Bleeding Heart Libertarians, where I have a post up recapping some of the data on income mobility and the household consumption of the US poor that I have discussed here on CP previously.
2. Over at the new Free Banking blog, I revise and extend a Freeman Online column from last December that looked at arguments against fractional reserve banking.
Re: Bleeding Heart Libertarians
"I also love this blog – both the idea and the execution."
Well, I for one, cannot stand the name. It is an insult to libertarianism, simpliciter.
In fact, I would make the case the "bleeding hearts" are one of the psychological elements in slippery slope processes.
Of course, I will read your post now that I have got that off my chest.
Posted by: Mario Rizzo | June 27, 2011 at 11:14 AM
To add to Dr. Rizzo's points, the comments at that blog to your post just about say it all for me. It seems to have drawn, very quickly, folks not very steeped in libertarian ideas.
Posted by: RickC | June 27, 2011 at 08:35 PM
Rick: Yes. I can sympathize with the frustration of reading comments like that. But that's pretty much what we're going for. We're trying to talk with people who aren't already committed libertarians. The price of that is that you have to put up with some rather ill-informed comments. But the upside is that you have the opportunity to spread libertarian ideas to a new audience, and maybe change some minds. That's difficult to do, but it's a challenge we're trying to meet.
Mario: Sorry you don't like the name. I know it's no "Think Markets," but that was already taken. At any rate, I don't understand why you find it insulting. Or what or why you think it's part of the slippery slope to socialism, or whatever. We think a commitment to libertarianism is compatible with caring about the poor and vulnerable, and thinking that their status has a special moral claim in the justification of political and economic institutions. Not all libertarians agree with that, and not all libertarians share the latter intuitions. But a lot do. And we're certainly not trying to be "insulting" to those who don't.
Posted by: Matt Zwolinski | June 28, 2011 at 12:44 AM
Matt,
Good luck with the new blog!
Posted by: RickC | June 28, 2011 at 07:11 AM
If you check the dictionary meaning of "bleeding heart" it is also not very complimentary to those who want to be that kind of libertarian. Certainly the connotations of the term are poor.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bleeding+heart
In any event, I do not wish to quarrel with other libertarians about concern for the poor. My version of libertarianism is friendly to economic growth, peace and civil liberties. We all benefit from that.
Posted by: Mario Rizzo | June 28, 2011 at 10:00 AM
Please note that my book Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Shaped Modern Economics is published by W.W.Norton in October.
Professor John B.Taylor of Stanford and the Hoover Institution says that: “Nicholas Wapshott brings the Keynes-Hayek fight of the 20th century back to life, making the clash both entertaining and highly relevant for understanding economic crises of the 21st century.”
Read an extract at: sites.google.com/site/wapshottkeyneshayek/
Nicholas Wapshott
Posted by: nicholas | June 28, 2011 at 12:22 PM
Congratulations, Nicholas. Very timely.
Posted by: Jerry O'Driscoll | June 30, 2011 at 04:23 PM