Austrians? - What's That About?

"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.”

John Maynard Keynes quote “The businessman is only tolerable so long as his gains can be held to bear some relation to what, roughly and in some sense, his activities have contributed to society.” ― John Maynard Keynes "Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually slaves of some defunct economist.” ― John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes (Lord Keynes) was a man with a sharp tongue and an even sharper pen.  He was a savvy investor who became wealthy through his investments. He famously foretold economic disaster from Britain's postwar policies. His essays, "The Economic Consequences Of The Peace" and "The Economic Consequences of Mr. Churchill" outlined years in advance what was to happen during the interwar period. He did not endear himself to the wealthy and powerful men of his day. Yet his ideas were greatly influential in shaping the postwar (post-WWII) world for the better. His ideas were based on facts and reality. His opponents among economists based their ideas on what they viewed as revealed truth. They never changed their ideas when more information became available. His most famous opponents were Friedrich Hayek (sometimes von Hayek) and Ludwig von Mises. Austrian aristocrats didn't like Keynes. The ophthalmologist and former congressman Ron Paul is among the most visible and doctrinaire supporters of the Austrians and opponents of Keynes in the present day. In today's Washington Post, columnist E.J. Dionne explains some of the historical background of Paul's devotion to the thoughts of  von Hayek and von Mises. Neither of the two Austrians wielded any significant influence in shaping the modern postwar world. At the time, they were marginal figures at best. As a practical matter, Keynes was as influential on Republican policies during the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations as he was on Democratic policies. As recently as 1980, then presidential aspirant George Herbert Walker Bush disparaged the policies espoused by Reagan as "voodoo economics." But the economic thought of Hayek and Mises became useful in supporting the self-interests of super wealthy plutocrats bent on undoing the works of the New Deal in every particular. Never mind that these very policies, even in the attenuated form that survived Reagan, are what kept the global economy after 2007 from descending into worse chaos than existed after the crash of 1929. Republican plutocrats have never forgiven President Roosevelt for rescuing capitalism from the consequences of their own excesses. Nor have they ever forgiven the measures to protect the poor and middle classes from the destructive consequences of the excesses of plutocrats.