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If it is approaching summer, it is time once again for Pseudo-Freedom
Fest – the annual festival organized by Mark Skousen.
There is no doubt that Skousen plays a part – the allowable boundary
for the one “extreme” called freedom. I
have written enough about Skousen’s role and views in the past – I will not
repeat any of this here. For those
interested, my first commentary on Skousen’s views can be found here;
and this
on last year’s Freedom Fest (including a nice little back and forth with
Daily Bell, in this case unable to avoid running into a conflict of interest
that hindered journalistic integrity).
So I will not repeat any of this. I have not, however, looked specifically into
Skousen himself – his background, training, etc. I have heard he is an Austrian economist, and
has written a textbook on this subject.
Maybe I am wrong on this (a search at LvMI turns up several items). But, what else?
Skousen was an economic analyst for
the CIA from 1972 to 1975.
Oh.
Skousen served as president of the
free market nonprofit Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) from 2001 to
2002.
Skousen's brief tenure as president
of FEE ended on a controversial note when he resigned in late 2002 at the request
of the organization's Board of Trustees. This move followed Skousen's decision
to invite, as keynote speaker for FEE's annual Liberty Banquet, New York City
Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani proved to be an extremely unpopular choice among
many of the organization's board members as well as several prominent
libertarians.
Oh.
From his website:
An almost idealistic proponent of
liberty and political freedom…
Idealistic? Not based
on anything I have seen or read.
Back to the upcoming festival; I only want to point to the headline draw,
the first item mentioned in promotion of this event of freedom (emphasis in
original):
DREAM DEBATE OF THE CENTURY
We’ve just confirmed the Dream Debate of the Century — Paul Krugman,
#1 Keynesian and top New York Times columnist, will face off Heritage’s chief economist Steve Moore,
#1 supply sider and Wall Street Journal columnist.
A Keynesian vs. a
supply-sider: I am unable to identify which of these two debaters, in this
“Dream Debate of the Century” is debating on the side of freedom. I will assume you all know Krugman. What about Steve Moore?
Moore spent ten years as a fellow
of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. Moore was the senior economist
of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee under Chairman Dick Armey of
Texas, where Moore "was instrumental in creating the FairTax proposal.
Cato, Fair Tax, Dick Armey – nothing indicating freedom. He is currently with Heritage – conservative, yes; freedom?
Founded in 1973, The Heritage
Foundation is a research and educational institution—a think tank—whose mission
is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the
principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom,
traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
No freedom here. Standard
“make government efficient” rhetoric (we see how well that’s played out over
the years) along with a bomb-them-all foreign policy.
So, I guess Krugman will represent the pro-freedom viewpoint
in this debate.
Back to the “Dream Debate of the Century”:
Krugman and Moore have been taking
shots at each other for years, and now they will finally meet on stage, one on
one, to battle it out on the hot issues of the day: Red
States vs. Blue States (especially California)….Flat Tax vs. Progressive
Tax….Austerity vs Stimulus….Inequality vs. Growth… ….Market Healthcare vs.
ObamaCare….Inflation vs. Deflation….Easy Money vs. Deficit Spending…Market
Capitalism (USA) vs. State Capitalism (China)….and many more topics vital
to our theme “How Can We Best Restore
the American Dream?”
Note that Skousen is telling you the limits of the
acceptable dialogue:
·
Red States
vs. Blue States: you must buy into one or the other.
·
Flat Tax
vs. Progressive Tax: what about no tax?
·
Easy Money
vs. Deficit Spending: I don’t even know what to make of this.
·
Market
Capitalism (USA) vs. State Capitalism (China): Because having markets any
more free than you might find in one of these two places in not possible.
Finally, to the theme of the entire festival: “How Can We
Best Restore the American Dream?” I don’t
know about the American Dream. I do have
some understanding about freedom. I am
certain one will never restore freedom if freedom is never discussed.
Skousen’s role with Freedom Fest is to ensure that actual
freedom is not discussed; that the term is so muddied that any consideration of
the concept is not possible as there will be no word for it.
If Skousin was really interested in promoting freedom, the freedom debater would be either George Reisman or Robert Murphy.
ReplyDeleteGood call, BM. Skousen is a statist tool whose mission is to promote the bankrupt conservative ideology behind a libertarian facade.
ReplyDeleteIs Skousen involved with Mises Canada at all? I have seen some very questionable articles coming from them lately that smack of planted "right wing" memes.
ReplyDeleteThis observation is my favorite part of your article:
"Note that Skousen is telling you the limits of the acceptable dialogue."
This is almost the oldest con in the book. You have to choose one or the other, and they both serve the con artist.