7 Responses to Russ Roberts paraphrases Hayek on Cyprus

1. Tradewinds says:

   March 25, 2013 at 5:20 am

   Wow.. The collapse of private bank account deposits has happened.. Who wins; who loses on the international score card?? The Russian mob loses, Germeny wins and the stock markets of the world go wild.. Cyprus will suffer a 10 to 15 percent or more economic contraction to depressionary levels.. Cyprus represents less than one half of one percent of EU GNP and has brought the Euro to its knees.. Depression now is becoming a real possibility..
   Could this happen here?? You be the judge, but our politicians better wake up fast.. Two weeks ago who ever heard of Cyprus?? After all its three largest banks in late 2011 passed EU regulators stress tests to survive possible depressionary conditions with flying colors.. Today these banks are baskets cases with their depositors suffering massive losses.. Having been closed for over a week, watch the runs (deposit withdrewals) when they finally open.. Excessive debt, out-of-control deficits and Euro instability are causing the forces of economic destruction to raise its ugly head..

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2. Norman Cove says:

   March 25, 2013 at 8:05 am

   I am a very confused right winger, to perhaps sort my meager gray cells out, I have ordered Hayeks book.
   However, I understand that basically those who made it to the top of the ladder are supposed spread their largess amongst their not so lucky brethren.
   But, there’s always a but….. after 60 years of socialist and communist Indoctirination in Europe and particularly England….. most believe they are ‘entitled’ to certain benefits, they have been to believe they can do anything the wish with their money, and if it runs out then the State will recompense them or supplement their expenses.
   However, the people who did do well and are comfortably settled with substantial assets, after being advised that they, like Mitt Romney, don’t need to bother with these ‘takers’.
   By definition, a taker is a waster who does not warrant assistance.
   So who will take care of these dead beats?
   The greatly wealthy, Bill Gates, and the like donate massive amount of funds to various charitable foundation and charities. Gates is lauded for his efforts with Malaria, but the very fact that/they safe thousands of lives, actually compounds the overall problem.
   During more gentle times prior to the great depression, there were those that did support many of the poor, however, even then there was massive poverty.
   The status quo as I see it is, a sort of financial ‘survival of the fittest’ wherein those who are unable to afford high medical, college fees, etc and who cannot live on their pension will die out, whereas those on the opposite foot will prosper and multiply.
   I would be grateful if you could set me straight.
   I am in full agreement that government should leave private enterprise alone, that restrictions on trade and business in general should be eliminated.
   Subsidizing one business puts the rest at a disadvantage. A subsidized Bahamas Air is playing havoc with our local privately owned airlines….. Some of which must inevitably go bankrupt.?
   Norman Cove

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3. Tradewinds says:

   March 25, 2013 at 11:21 am

   Gray cells are more often than not a sign of potential intellectual wisdom.. One could not help but remember the crowning words of Ronald Reagan at his First Presidential Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981..
   “In this present crisis, government is not
   the solution to our problem, it is the
   problem.”
   The Bahamian government has been a disincentive to economic development as it assumed more and greater power and control over the private sector which only hinders real economic growth.. As President Reagan so rightly stated the government “is the problem”.. And brother do we have a problem..
   If you don’t believe this, just take a hard look at Obamacare in America.. This forced on the people program has little to do with improving and reducing the costs of health care.. It is deliberate attempt to increase control and power over the people, of which the vast majority of people don’t even want.. Lets us not forget, the power to control heath care is the absolute power over life and death.. Reagan got it; Obama seems to haven’t got a clue or does he?? Perhaps his true political agenda is just becoming more apparent..

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4. Norman Cove says:

   March 25, 2013 at 4:44 pm

   I left the UK over 50 years ago to avoid the dreadful restrictions that were placed upon all Dentists working in the NHS. It was as though an Architect withbthe knowledge and ability to design St. Pauls cathedral was confined to buildin concrete block houses.
   Relatively simple tasks, such as making artificial teeth, required a prior approval, the approving officer was a clerk. Even the patients would tell how to do my job, which I had recently spent 6 years learning how to do.
   Today, the Dental side of NHS is virtually non existent, by and large, the patients themselves have realised that they were being very short changed.
   Socialised medicine and dentistry could work if all humans were the same, unfortunately for a variety of reasons, some suffer far more than others, I being quite venerable, well over my allotted span, have never had a serious medical problem, apart from a self indicted ruptured disc which required surgery.
   My wife, on the other hand, had two sessions with Cancer, the first, from which she fully recovered, was followed 10 years later by a second, totally unrelated to the first. Her trearments and associated expenses, cost us well in excess of half a million dollars. We carried no medical insurance, however, in antivipation that we could experience a catastropic event, we had invested in property, the sale of which paid for her treatments. I had no worries concerning funding, no insurance clerks telling us where and by whom treatments could or could not be performed.
   The point of all this is simply, I was in the fortuitous position to afford it, most folk would have had a far worse experience.
   There is more, but I don’t wish to drag it out.
   Norman Cove

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5. WeblogBahamas says:

   March 25, 2013 at 4:47 pm

   Hayek’s books (Road to Serfdom & The Constitution of Liberty http://www.iea.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/files/Hayek%27s%20Constitution%20of%20Liberty.pdf ) are two good places to start.
   Where do you learn “those who made it to the top of the ladder are “supposed” spread their largess amongst their not so lucky brethren.” ? Isn’t that supposed to be voluntary? See: http://www.nassauinstitute.org/articles/article1134.php
   People such as Mr. Romney, according to press reports are those that give back. People like Mr. Obama do not. They make you do it at the point of a gun.
   One other point. People like Mr. Romney, create wealth that all their employees etc share in by having a job. People like Mr. Obama do the opposite.

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6. Tradewinds says:

   March 25, 2013 at 9:28 pm

   Lets set the record straight, Mitt Romney and his wife gives more to charity with no strings attached in a single year than both Obama and his sidekick Joe Biden have given to charity over the last ten years.. As all these contributions are reported charitable deductions, the records have been made available on their annual tax returns during the last Presidential election..
   As for Bill Gates his charitable contributions are to the Gates Foundation where he also gets a charitable deduction for the amount of his contribution on his income tax return.. However, Bill and his wife exercise control over where the foundation invests its money and where the funds are donated.. These strings attached benefits allow the Gates family to exercise control and substantial power over the foundation at great personal benefit and interest..
   If on the other hand such gifts were not made to the foundation, the government tax authorities would tax away the amount of these gifts and the Gates family would receive no benefit from being taxes to death at the highest rates.. Nevertheless, both Mitt Romney and Bill Gates should be recognized for their outstanding generosity and support of so many worthwhile charitable causes..

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7. Rick Lowe says:

   April 3, 2013 at 7:06 pm

   Thanks Dr. Cove.
   You have very adequately addressed the problems associated with Socialised medicine, which does cut people off by the way, no matter their circumstances (i.e. being poor) as there is never enough funding to go around.

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