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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMeet the Economist Behind the One Percent's Stealth Takeover of America - Must Read
https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/meet-the-economist-behind-the-one-percents-stealth-takeover-of-america?fbclid=IwAR1mXLjPX_UQ6aIC3davjG4oUABOXxHjlWoLI3w3l4Vbg1Vru_bYNjl4Ye0<snip>
Nobel laureate James Buchanan is the intellectual linchpin of the Koch-funded attack on democratic institutions, argues Duke historian Nancy MacLean
Ask people to name the key minds that have shaped Americas burst of radical right-wing attacks on working conditions, consumer rights and public services, and they will typically mention figures like free market-champion Milton Friedman, libertarian guru Ayn Rand, and laissez-faire economists Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises.
James McGill Buchanan is a name you will rarely hear unless youve taken several classes in economics. And if the Tennessee-born Nobel laureate were alive today, it would suit him just fine that most well-informed journalists, liberal politicians, and even many economics students have little understanding of his work.
The reason? Duke historian Nancy MacLean contends that his philosophy is so stark that even young libertarian acolytes are only introduced to it after they have accepted the relatively sunny perspective of Ayn Rand. (Yes, you read that correctly). If Americans really knew what Buchanan thought and promoted, and how destructively his vision is manifesting under their noses, it would dawn on them how close the country is to a transformation most would not even want to imagine, much less accept.
That is a dangerous blind spot, MacLean argues in a meticulously researched book, Democracy in Chains, a finalist for the National Book Award in Nonfiction. While Americans grapple with Donald Trumps chaotic presidency, we may be missing the key to changes that are taking place far beyond the level of mere politics. Once these changes are locked into place, there may be no going back.
A Theory of Property Supremacy
Buchanan began working on a description of power that started out as a critique of how institutions functioned in the relatively liberal 1950s and 60s, a time when economist John Maynard Keyness ideas about the need for government intervention in markets to protect people from flaws so clearly demonstrated in the Great Depression held sway. Buchanan, MacLean notes, was incensed at what he saw as a move toward socialism and deeply suspicious of any form of state action that channels resources to the public. Why should the increasingly powerful federal government be able to force the wealthy to pay for goods and programs that served ordinary citizens and the poor?
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A seriously good read. Will order MacLean's book.
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Meet the Economist Behind the One Percent's Stealth Takeover of America - Must Read (Original Post)
malaise
May 2020
OP
Note how Buchanan glosses over all the costs the parasite class impose on everyone else.
Hermit-The-Prog
May 2020
#9
pandr32
(11,581 posts)1. I read it
Excellent, must read.
FoxNewsSucks
(10,429 posts)2. Hardly seems stealthy anymore,
the stealing is downright brazen.
yonder
(9,664 posts)3. I saw this a few weeks ago. Buchanan makes Ayn Rand seem like a communist.
Isn't that the truth?
smb
(3,471 posts)4. How Apropos He Shares The Name Of The (Until Now) Worst President Ever nt
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)6. K&R
For later reading
cayugafalls
(5,640 posts)7. That is a super article.
This explains so much.
Bookmarking to remind me to order book. Thank you!
lostnfound
(16,177 posts)8. Sounds like a good book. Nt
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,339 posts)9. Note how Buchanan glosses over all the costs the parasite class impose on everyone else.
malaise
(268,968 posts)10. It's always about them
and only them