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Friday Roundup, May 10th

  • So, to restrain the judiciary why not make a judgment in favor of self-government or a competitive politics structured by federalism and separation of powers? The latest Liberty Law Talk with Joshua Hawley evaluates some interesting answers to this question: “Making the Supreme Court Safe for Democracy.”

Most seductive in this transformation was the fact that Keynes seemed to combine the worst fear of unbridled capitalism (mass unemployment) with the source of the greatest resentment (the idle rich) into a coherent explanation for the troubles that plagued the US and the UK.  Not only was this message seductive to politicians seeking both a scapegoat and a program for action, it was attractive to the young and brilliant economists who were entering into the economics profession during the 1930s and 1940s. They were given a purpose – economic science could be a tool of social control that when utilized appropriately could balance the economy, eliminate inefficiencies and curb injustice.

This is the world that F. A. Hayek and company challenged.  It is the great “counter-revolution” in economic thought in the 20th century.  Angus Burgin’s The Great Persuasion is the best social history yet written on this episode.