There were, however, also some points of disagreement. Rand labeled her philosophy Objectivism. This stood in contrast to the radical subjectivism of Mises’ work within the Austrian tradition. For example, money, even the gold standard, for Mises, derives its value from the subjective preferences of individual agents but for Rand gold is an objective value. This can be seen in many of the speeches made by characters in Atlas Shrugged. The character Fransico d’Anconia, in his famous speech on money in the chapter the Aristocracy of Pull says, “Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced.” Another point of departure was on ethics. Mises was also a utilitarian, which Rand, whose philosophy was rights based, despised even referring to Mises “as that old fool.”

In this letter to National Review editor William F. Buckley Jr., Henry Hazlitt tells the very amusing tale of Mises and Rand’s first meeting. Given these disagreements from these two very passionate thinkers it is not completely surprising to hear that their first meeting did not go very smoothly. The story has gotten around Libertarian circles for a long time but in this letter sets the story straight.

Download the Letter From Henry Hazlitt to William F. Buckley Jr. Here

The difference is in the desire to achieve such an end. Lenin wanted the fall of the Capitalist system in order to usher in the Communist revolution. Hazlitt, on the other hand, makes the point that Lenin was right more as a warning. During this time the currency, in bank deposits and outside currency, was growing and Hazlitt warns readers of the hidden costs of such a monetary policy. The point is very similar to his main thesis in his book Economics in One Lesson,

“The art of economics consists of looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.”

Hazlitt wanted to show the hidden costs of monetary interventions into the market system and how they are particularly destructive.

The other interesting aspect of this rough draft, and relevant today given the current crisis, is how the whole first page is a paraphrase of John Maynard Keynes. The article can be seen as an attack on the Keynesian system. Keynesians wanted to steer the economy in the short run which ignores Hazlitt’s one lesson. After all, Hazlitt was no fan of the Keynesian system and he still uses Keynes’ own words to make a large part of his argument. It goes to show how far Keynes went from The Economic Consequences of the Peace to the General Theory.

Download Lenin Was Right Here.

“Eloquent. Extraordinary. Timeless. Paradigm-shifting. Classic. Half a century after it first appeared, Leonard Read’s ‘I, Pencil’ still evokes such adjectives of praise. Rightfully so, for this little essay opens eyes and minds among people of all ages. Many first-time readers never see the world quite the same again.” -Lawrence W. Reed

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Download I, Pencil Full Audio

Download I, Pencil Chapter 1

Download I, Pencil Chapter 2

Download I, Pencil Chapter 3

Download I, Pencil Chapter 4

Download I, Pencil Chapter 5

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• Download PDF of “The House That Uncle Sam Built” by Peter Boettke and Steven Horwitz.
• Visit the authors’ blog: www.coordinationproblem.org
• Subscribe to First Principles podcast

Hayek first encountered FEE and Leonard Read, FEE’s founder and first president, in 1947 as plans were being made for the very first Mont Pelerin Society meeting in Switzerland. Read became part of Professor Hayek’s circle–indeed one of its most respected members, a man on whom Hayek relied “not only to spread the gospel, but as much to contribute to the development of ideas.” Hayek’s The Use of Knowledge in Society inspired Read’s famous essay I, Pencil, which remains instrumental in FEE’s efforts on behalf of liberty.

Hayek also became a prominent member of the FEE faculty, addressing students of all ages and walks of life at FEE seminars around the country and at the Foundation’s home in Irvington-on-Hudson, in the very classroom where students celebrate the freedom philosophy today.

In 1968 F. A. Hayek delivered a touching and beautiful tribute to FEE: “The institution Leonard Read has built up bears the modest and prosaic name of a Foundation for Economic Education. I believe that what the Foundation for Economic Education and all its co-fighters and friends are committed to is nothing more nor less than the defense of our civilization against intellectual error.”

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Thanking our friends and supporters for their generosity is a present I enjoy wrapping and giving many times over. In November, I sent you our year-end update and appeal. We posted it on the FEE web site and Facebook fan page. We e-mailed it to our “In Brief” subscribers and included a condensation of it on the inside cover of the January issue of “The Freeman” that was dispatched in December. We called many of you on the phone. Then we said a prayer, held our breath and watched the mail.

Our year-end letter is always very important to FEE, yielding as much as 30 percent of our annual budget. The most recent one was especially critical because the economy didn’t do us any favors in 2009, yet we very much wanted to build on the achievements of last year to do more and bigger things for liberty in 2010. (If you did not get a chance to read the letter, you can still see it here) .

It’s now far enough into January to close the books on 2009. We didn’t quite meet our optimistic budget projections but I’m happy to report that we came close—close enough that I want to supplement the normal thank you and receipt with this second note of appreciation. It may be trite to say so, but we really can’t thank you enough!

Our founder, the late Leonard E. Read, always believed that if you do your best and it’s of value to others, support will follow. No need to beg or borrow; just perform and make your case. Friends of liberty know that the cause is important enough to pitch in. He was proven right again. In spite of a difficult year for many of you, your gifts to FEE since late November will help us hugely to set new records for outreach in 2010. Though we fell a little short of projections, we’re not like the Congress. We’ll spend what we have, and not a nickel more.

You have many options with your hard-earned dollars. You’re under no obligation to give any of them away. No organization should ever feel “entitled” to any portion of what’s yours. At FEE, we want our work to merit your endorsement and we miss it greatly when for any reason you decide our work doesn’t measure up. So when you come through for us, we are grateful. Very grateful.

Thank you once again for being our partners for a noble cause. We promise you we will do our best (and get better at it every year), that we will not waver from the principles we share, and that our faith in our friends will never flag. Best wishes for the new year!

— Lawrence W. (Larry) Reed
President
Foundation for Economic Education

“I want my son or daughter to be exposed to free market economics after high school. What colleges or universities do you recommend?”

If I’ve been asked that question once, I’ll bet I’ve been asked it a thousand times. Parents who cherish the values of freedom, limited government and private enterprise have good reason to be concerned about where they send their offspring for higher “education.” Academia is full of statist bias, and statists usually aren’t comfortable when the first non-statist is accidentally hired for a teaching position (they think it’s a takeover). So when you find an economics program in which free market ideas are treated with respect and given a prominent forum, it’s news to celebrate.

Keep in mind that I am talking here about economics, period. If a college or university has a good econ program, that doesn’t mean it also has a good offering or even a decent balance in its other social science programs.

On that occasion, I wrote about Florida Gulf Coast University.

The school I want to acquaint readers with this time is one I’ve become familiar with over the last academic year, Mercer University. Mercer has campuses in Atlanta, Macon, and Savannah. Its core undergraduate campus, which consistently ranks in the Top 10 for beautiful campuses in America, is located in Macon, Georgia. It’s an urban campus with an extremely active student body and great Southern cuisine nearby.

Some libertarian-leaning professors teach in the history, philosophy, and political science departments, but it’s the group of economists on Mercer’s Macon campus, all of whom are solid free market economists, that I’m most familiar with. A brief biography of each is provided below.

SCOTT A. BEAULIER, BB&T Distinguished Professor of Capitalism and Department Chair of Economics, earned his undergraduate degree in economics and history from Northern Michigan University (2000) and his M.A. (2002) and Ph.D. (2004) from George Mason University. Much of his research has focused on issues of economic development; in particular, he is one of the leading experts on Botswana’s growth miracle. His research maintains that Botswana’s rapid growth can be attributed to their being economically free and open. He has also published research in the areas of Austrian economics, law & economics, public choice economics, and economic education. Some of his popular press publications have appeared in leading newspapers, such as the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Wall Street Journal. He has been active with Liberty Fund, has taught for the Institute for Humane Studies, and will soon be teaching for the Foundation for Economic Education.

Professor Beaulier is also directing the Center for Undergraduate Research in Public Policy & Capitalism. The new center supports collaborative research between undergraduates and faculty members that addresses themes related to capitalism. This spring he will teach a course titled, “The Economic and Moral Foundations of Capitalism.”

WILLIAM S. MOUNTS, Associate Dean of the Stetson School of Business and Economics and Professor of Economics, earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Georgia. Dr. Mounts has over 50 academic articles, books, and presentations. His presentations have been at national and international conferences including the Southern Economics Association, the Western Economics Conference, and the central bank of Switzerland. Journals in which he has published include the Economics of Governance, Journal of Macroeconomics, Southern Economic Review, Public Choice, Journal of Sports Economics, Journal of Money, Banking and Credit and the Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics.

His current research interests include an examination of monetary regimes using extreme value estimation techniques, the aging of men and women, the economics of teamwork, and banking in the Great Depression. Much of this work focuses on how free market incentives create socially-desired outcomes and that governmentally-determined incentives do not.

Recently, Dr. Mounts and Dr. Beaulier have published opinion pieces in The Wall Street Journal and the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

ALLEN K. LYNCH, Director of Graduate Programs and Associate Professor of Economics, earned his earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of North Florida and his master’s and doctorate degrees at Florida State University. While at FSU, he was greatly influenced by many renowned public choice economists, such as Bruce Benson, Randy Holcombe, Jim Gwartney and David Rasmussen. He has taught at the University of North Florida and worked as a Senior Demographic Research Analyst for Blockbuster Entertainment Group prior to joining the Mercer University faculty in 2000.

He has published numerous journal articles, ranging from “Identifying the NCAA Tournament Dance Card,” a statistical model which accurately predicted 94 percent of college basketball teams that earned at-large bids for the NCAA tournament over the last 10 years (coauthored by B. Jay Coleman of the University of North Florida), to “Proximity, Neighborhood and the Efficacy of Exclusion,” recently published in Urban Studies (coauthored by David W. Rasmussen). While research related to the public choice aspects of real estate markets and crime dominate his research agenda, interest in the NCAA article resulted in substantial media attention. Over the last several years, stories related to this research appeared in The New York Times, Investors’ Business Daily, The Wall Street Journal, as well as several Associated Press outlets.

With so many campuses devoid of solid teaching that stresses the critical role of free markets and private property in economic progress, Mercer University is another welcome island in a sea of confusion.

1. I resolve to sell liberty by appealing to the self-interest of each prospect, rather than preaching to people and expecting them to suddenly adopt my ideas of right and wrong.

2. I resolve to keep from being drawn into arguments or debates. My purpose is to inspire people to want liberty — not to prove that they’re wrong.

3. I resolve to listen when people tell me of their wants and needs, so I can help them see how a free society will satisfy those needs.

4. I resolve to identify myself, when appropriate, with the social goals someone may seek — a cleaner environment, more help for the poor, a less divisive society — and try to show him that those goals can never be achieved by government, but will be well served in a free society.

5. I resolve to be compassionate and respectful of the beliefs and needs that lead people to seek government help. I don’t have to approve of their subsidies or policies — but if I don’t acknowledge their needs, I have no hope of helping them find a better way to solve their problems.

6. No matter what the issue, I resolve to keep returning to the central point: how much better off the individual will be in a free society.

7. I resolve to acknowledge my good fortune in having been born an American. Any plan for improvement must begin with a recognition of the good things we have. To speak only of America’s defects will make me a tiresome crank.

8. I resolve to focus on the ways America could be so much better with a very small government — not to dwell on all the wrongs that exist today.

9. I resolve to cleanse myself of hate, resentment, and bitterness. Such things steal time and attention from the work that must be done.

10. I resolve to speak, dress, and act in a respectable manner. I may be the first libertarian someone has encountered, and it’s important that he get a good first impression. No one will hear the message if the messenger is unattractive.

11. I resolve to remind myself that someone’s “stupid” opinion may be an opinion I once held. If I can grow, why can’t I help him grow?

12. I resolve not to raise my voice in any discussion. In a shouting match, no one wins, no one changes his mind, and no one will be inspired to join our quest for a free society.

13. I resolve not to adopt the tactics of Republicans and Democrats. They use character assassination, evasions, and intimidation because they have no real benefits to offer Americans. We, on the other hand, are offering to set people free — and so we can win simply by focusing on the better life our proposals will bring.

14. I resolve to be civil to my opponents and treat them with respect. However anyone chooses to treat me, it’s important that I be a better person than my enemies.