Thursday may have been a definitive day in the fight against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). ACTA is a multi-national treaty meant to enforce intellectual property rights. Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, the United States, and 22 countries of the European Union signed in ACTA. Opponents of ACTA say that the treaty adversely affects privacy, freedom of expression, and other fundamental rights.
On Thursday, a number of committees spoke out against ACTA to the European Parliament (which is ACTA will ultimately be allowed to stay in or be written out of the books forever). Five committees will give their recommendation to the European Parliament as to whether ACTA should stay. One of those committees, the International Trade (INTA) committee “owns” ACTA, therefore will most likely recommend keeping the controversial treaty in place. Three of the remaining four committees gave their recommendation to the European Parliament Thursday. The Industry, Research, Energy (ITRE), the Legal Affairs (JURI), and the Civil Liberties (LIBE) committees all voted Thursday to reject ACTA.
“As far as Athens is concerned, I also think about all those people who are trying to escape tax all the time. All these people in Greece who are trying to escape tax.”
Ms Lagarde went on to say: ‘I think they should also help themselves collectively… By all paying their tax.’
Lagarde was instantly criticized for her “humiliation” of the Greek people. Evangelos Venizelos, the Greek socialist leader, stated that no one, including Lagarde, had the right to humiliate an insult the Greek people. That was when the word spread that Lagarde herself does not pay taxes on her almost $500,000 yearly salary.
I was surprised to see “Austrians” trending on based on Ron Paul’s statement last night “We’re all Austrians now!”
People seemed to think he was talking about the country…
In economic theory, the term Austrian School stands for liberalism and laissez-faire-economics (where economic performance is optimised when there is limited government interference).
The Austrian School of economics has its original roots in the work of Carl Menger from the University of Vienna . References to the topic were first published in 1871. Well-known followers of Menger included Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk (1851 – 1914), Ludwig von Mises (1881 – 1973) and, perhaps most important, Friedrich A. Hayek (1899 – 1929).
Hayek, for example, strongly rejected any intervention by the state in the economy. For him, markets work perfectly in the sense that the market price balances supply and demand. A perfect market is one characterised by easy access to information, no barriers to entry and with prices controlled by all participants.
Due to the global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, the popularity of the Austrian School of economics has experienced a boost in recent times because it had predicted, a long time ago, that too much debt – due to too low interest rates – would trigger investment bubbles followed by a crisis after these bubbles burst. For example, look at Ireland’s property bubble, which was fuelled by reckless lending by banks to property developers.
Here’s a rap video about some aspects of the Austrian school made by my friends at EconStories!
In Fear the Boom and Bust, John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek, two of the great economists of the 20th century, come back to life to attend an economics conference on the economic crisis. Before the conference begins, and at the insistence of Lord Keynes, they go out for a night on the town and sing about why there’s a “boom and bust” cycle in modern economies and good reason to fear it.
Tom Woods sums up quite nicely a bit about Austrian Economics here:
An Introduction to Economic Reasoning
These books, all relatively short and available online or for purchase, are an excellent starting point for an education in sound economics.
A useful companion to Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson is this series of videos, recorded in July-August 2008, in which various professors comment on each of the book’s chapters – explaining the argument, elaborating on it, and applying it to present conditions.
John Papola is an award winning producer/director in broadcast entertainment and marketing. He is currently a creative executive at Spike TV in their industry-leading brand group. He previously worked for MTV Animation series development and Nickelodeon’s on-air creative group. John graduated from Penn State University with a BA in film and video production.
The financial and economic crisis and a general concern for the future that comes with being a new dad, sparked an intense interest in economics and the business cycle. John was introduced to Hayek and the “Austrian” perspective on economics and the business cycle by reading Henry Hazlitt’s “Economics in One Lesson”. His reading and, in theory, his understanding has expanded with subsequent study.
John has his commute (and Russ Roberts via econtalk.org) to thank for whatever economics understanding he purports to have. It’s amazing how much one can learn with 3 hours of public transit per day and an iPhone packed with audio books and podcasts. He’s still learning… and always will be.
Samples of his directing work are available on his web site johnpapola.com.
