Free Market Anti-Capitalism

Libertarianism, it seems, has taken a beating lately. Of course, that is only if you take terms like 'libertarianism' and 'free market' to means something they don't - in this case the presently exiting state capitalist plutocracy.

Some folks are genuinely confused when they find out I am not just an anarchist, but a 'free market' anarchist.

If you really want to understand the left-libertarian, free market anti-capitalist mindset, I cannot think of two better examples than these two posts by Auburn Professor Roderick T Long at Art of the Possible.

Highlights:

From Regulation: The Cause, Not the Cure, of the Financial Crisis :

"The bailout is just diverting resources from the productive poor and middle-class to the failed rich, which doesn’t seem like a very good idea one either ethical or economic grounds. The only good effect such a bailout could possibly have (at least if you prefer costly boondoggles without piles of dead bodies to costly boondoggles with them) is if it convinced the warmongers that they just can’t afford a global war on terror right now"

From History of an Idea :

But what if friendly politicians rig the game so that favoured companies can reap the benefits associated with economies of scale while socialising the costs associated with diseconomies of scale? Then we might just possibly end up with an economy dominated by those bloated, bureaucratic, hierarchical corporate behemoths we all know and love.

....

All too many libertarians still rush to defend giant corporations like Microsoft and Wal-Mart (two firms whose whole business model in fact depends heavily on government intervention – via, e.g., IP protectionism for Microsoft, eminent domain plus socialised transportation costs for Wal-Mart, and general suppression of competition from the less affluent for both) as though such a defense were part and parcel of a commitment to markets. As libertarians we can hardly complain when we’re accused of being apologists for corporate plutocracy, so long as we’re actually contributing to that perception ourselves by allowing ourselves to lose track of the basic facts about the price system that we of all people should remember.

Check out the links in both pieces and the links to Roderick, Brad Spangler and Kevin Carson in my sidebar.

Anyone that says they are libertarian and supports the bailout or government intervention of any kind is a liar.

The words 'free market' are not dirty words and libertarians are not Ayn Rand-loving apologists for the rich and powerful. Those are the 'vulgar libertarians' and are not libertarians at all.

Update:



Stefan Molyneux cuts through the guff and lays it out, plain as day. Please try to tell me after watching this insightful explanation that the current economic problems are caused by the 'free market' rather than regulations and government action. Think about it.