Keynesians vs. Austrians on The Simpsons

[AGRP]

It seems like an endorsement of Austrian in a round about way at face value. Hiding under a rock is viewed as a societal negative, but look who they are hiding from: The evil burns and his hounds. Burns is probably Bernanke (or a Rockefeller). The hounds are probably the IRS. The scared captive people running up the trees are the member banks/ters (or heads of the Federal Reserve banks or Bernanke). In this case the peaceful solution would be to not take part in the process at all signified by hiding under a rock.

 

[american.swan]

The original writers for the Simpsons left, what, a decade ago. I didn't think Matt had anything to do with the show.

There is a libertarian supposedly on the staff of the Simpsons. It was in Lew.

 

[american.swan]

From the comments to the OP link....

" Tom Finnigan recently published an article about the libertarian writer on the simpsons at lew rockwell"

 

[compromise]

It seems like an endorsement of Austrian in a round about way at face value. Hiding under a rock is viewed as a societal negative, but look who they are hiding from: The evil burns and his hounds. Burns is probably Bernanke (or a Rockefeller). The hounds are probably the IRS. The scared captive people running up the trees are the member banks/ters (or heads of the Federal Reserve banks or Bernanke). In this case the peaceful solution would be to not take part in the process at all signified by hiding under a rock.

Why would a very liberal-leaning cartoon be promoting Austrian economics and criticizing the IRS and the Federal Reserve? I think you're analyzing this a little too deeply.

Even if there is 1 libertarian (although he hasn't written an episode in a decade), I doubt he'd be making complex parables.

 

[AGRP]

Why would a very liberal-leaning cartoon be promoting Austrian economics and criticizing the IRS and the Federal Reserve? I think you're analyzing this a little too deeply.

Even if there is 1 libertarian (although he hasn't written an episode in a decade), I doubt he'd be making complex parables.

Do I know? Does anyone know? No. No one knows until the writers tell us. This is all fun and games.

 

[gwax23]

We're hitting the big time! Soon "Austrian School" will be a household word. As it is now, when I talk to guys majoring in economics, they have never heard of the Austrian School. Just last week, I was talking to a guy.

"So what are you studying?"
"Economics"
"Oh, wow! What kind of economics are you most interested in?"
"International Economics, probably mostly because I like that teacher."
"Cool. So, my hobby is economics. Have you ever heard of Austrian Economics? You could also call it Causal Realist."
"No."
"Mises?"
"Uhh..."
"Ludwig von Mises"
"No."
"Murray Rothbard? Hayek?"
"No."
"Oh, well, you've heard of Richardo, right? The English Classical School?"
"Yeah, Richardo, sure."
"Well, it's kind of like that, but they took the ideas further. Free market."
"OK."
"Check it out. Austrian Economics. It's awesome. The only economics that's right!"

So we have a long way to go. Any publicity is good.

Ive had similar experiences. Friends and people Ive met who study economics are completely oblivious to Austrian Economics. Its like theyre all indoctrinated Keynesians.

 

[neodivinity]

I will comment on the part I think everyone left out which is artificially picking interest rates by what Burns calls a "free market" strategy. At least at this level I think they point at the absurdity of not letting the market determine rates which results in the eventual slaughter of the economy

 

[Henry Rogue]

Anyone see the movie "Loopers" yet? I don't think this counts as a spoiler, so i'm posting it. They use gold and silver as money.

 

[ronpaulfollower999]

The Simpsons missed a third group, the police, who would've likely just killed all the hounds.

 

[bolil]

Im going to be lending my cousin books on Austrian econ. She is an econ major and has been inculcated with Keynesian ideals. Im thinking of going with human action first, and if well received going to Man econ state, provided I am done with it at that point.

 

[green73]

Im going to be lending my cousin books on Austrian econ. She is an econ major and has been inculcated with Keynesian ideals. Im thinking of going with human action first, and if well received going to Man econ state, provided I am done with it at that point.

Introduce her with Economics in One Lesson. The bigs recommends that.

 

[Occam's Banana]

Im going to be lending my cousin books on Austrian econ. She is an econ major and has been inculcated with Keynesian ideals. Im thinking of going with human action first, and if well received going to Man econ state, provided I am done with it at that point.

green73 is right. You should probably start her out on Economics in One Lesson.

And I'd definitely recommend Man, Economy and State before Human Action.

Beginning with Human Action is like climbing a mountain by starting at the top.

 

[bolil]

green73 is right. You should probably start her out on Economics in One Lesson.

And I'd definitely recommend Man, Economy and State before Human Action.

Beginning with Human Action is like climbing a mountain by starting at the top.

But rothbard himself states in MES that much of his thought finds genesis in human action. Economics in one lesson, never read it so cannot recommend it yet.

I am afraid that the size of MES would put her off. She is very busy. That being said, I've not read HA yet either. Ugh/

 

[QuickZ06]

hmmmm

 

[Occam's Banana]

But rothbard himself states in MES that much of his thought finds genesis in human action.

Yes, Human Action was the inspiration for MES. But he wrote MES as a "kinder, gentler" introduction to Austrian economics.

In Human Action, Mises makes assumptions about the reader's level of knowledge and awareness of important topics.

In MES, Rothbard doesn't assume the reader knows anything at all about economics. He builds the entire edifice step-by-step from the ground up.

Economics in one lesson, never read it so cannot recommend it yet.

I am afraid that the size of MES would put her off. She is very busy. That being said, I've not read HA yet either. Ugh/

Human Action is only 160 pages shorter than MES (Mises Institute pocket editions - and not including Power & Market in MES).

So I'd say that anyone who is too busy for MES it also too busy for Human Action - especially since Human Action is a much more difficult work.

And if size is a factor, Economics in One Lesson is definitely the way to start - it is quite short (my copy is just 183 pages).

 

[Anti Federalist]

The original writers for the Simpsons left, what, a decade ago. I didn't think Matt had anything to do with the show.

There is a libertarian supposedly on the staff of the Simpsons. It was in Lew.

John Swartzwelder. He was the driving force behind the writing, with more credits than any other writer.

Although he hasn't had anything to do with the show since season 15, which is why, not coincidentally, the show has pretty much sucked since that point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Swartzwelder

The Ron Swanson character is supposedly based on him.

 

[bolil]

Yes, Human Action was the inspiration for MES. But he wrote MES as a "kinder, gentler" introduction to Austrian economics.

In Human Action, Mises makes assumptions about the reader's level of knowledge and awareness of important topics.

In MES, Rothbard doesn't assume the reader knows anything at all about economics. He builds the entire edifice step-by-step from the ground up.



Human Action is only 160 pages shorter than MES (Mises Institute pocket editions - and not including Power & Market in MES).

So I'd say that anyone who is too busy for MES it also too busy for Human Action - especially since Human Action is a much more difficult work.

And if size is a factor, Economics in One Lesson is definitely the way to start - it is quite short (my copy is just 183 pages).

My version of MES includes power and market. I will tell my cuz to hold off until I get Econ in one under my belt, a shortish work as 183 wont take long anyways, thanks for the insight.

 

[helmuth_hubener]

The implications of this clip are absolutely tremendous, if you think about it. There were two schools of economics in it: Keynesians, and Austrian School (and that's good that they said it as Austrian School, otherwise everyone would just assume it was an absurdist comment about economists from Austria). No other school was even worth mentioning! Ha, ha!

 

[green73]

The implications of this clip are absolutely tremendous, if you think about it. There were two schools of economics in it: Keynesians, and Austrian School (and that's good that they said it as Austrian School, otherwise everyone would just assume it was an absurdist comment about economists from Austria). No other school was even worth mentioning! Ha, ha!

Ha ha Chicagoans!

 

[Tinnuhana]

If they knew about the Austrian School, wouldn't there have been some diff in the interest rates on their backs? IDK Maybe they should have had a blimp fly overhead and all the Austrians grab a rope and get pulled up to safety.