Flibbertigibbet

The Commanding Heights

On the recommendation of my favorite Starbuck's Barista, I ordered a series of videos by PBS from Netflix. The series is called Commanding Heights and there are three parts, The Battle for Ideas, New Rules of the Game, and The Agony of Reform.

Each part is two hours long and I've watched the first two.

The Battle for Ideas
This is a pretty good introduction to the history behind Austrian, or free market, economics. It doesn't get into details about what free market economics IS exactly, but it tells you who the major players were. It also pits free-market Capitalism (as if there is another kind) whose major proponent of the time was Frederich Hayek, and planned-market Capitalism as expounded by Maynard Keynes.

The fun part about the movie is that it gives us the historical evidence for the power and prosperity of free market systems.

For all intents and purposes the movie dismisses, rightly so, Communism/Socialism/Fascism as absurd, contradictory economic systems found for failure. Again, it never gets into what these systems really are or why they fail exactly.

Keynesian and Austrian Free-market economics are distinct from one another in that the former is a proponent of planned market economies, while the other advocates a full separation of economy and state. (I have no doubt that apologists and so-called 'centrists' exist in either camp.)

The Depression was a classic market bubble. To try to fix it, FDR stepped in and poured salt on the wound. (Un)fortunately, WWII started up and everyone was distracted for a little bit and the government spending in the economy for the production of weapons (and it's encouragement of inflation) helped everything along.

After the war the economy continued it's upward arc but started its inevitable slow-down which it continued until the "stagflation" of 70's and the economic crisis of the 80's. We thank pretty much every president between FDR and Jimmy Carter for that whole mess. Over in England, they look to the Labour Party for the idiotic economic policies that lead to state-run industries like coal.

I especially like dissing Jimmy Carter because he's an addled, old fool. I also like dissing the Labour Party because, as I understand it, they're socialists.

Anyway, Ronald Regan came along and adopted a more free market stance and the economy boomed. Meanwhile, over in England Margaret Thatcher, whom I think I would like quite a bit, was doing the same and everything was lots of fun. Well, not everything and I'll get to that in a minute.

Then, there was Bush I and Clinton x2 and Bush II. Both discs basically talk about how Clinton was a liar about his position on NAFTA. (Clinton? Lie? NO!) It also talks about how Clinton's first term was all about the budget and his second term was all about trade and starting a recession.

This first disc was a VERY high-level introduction to the history of free-market economics and I would recommend it to those who don't really care to learn much about economics, but want to know what the fuss is about.

It's major weakness is the fact that it does not identify the principles behind each market theory. I know the movie is 2 hours long as it stands, but more detail is needed for those with a true interest in economics.

The New Rules of the Game
The second disc is about globalism -- kind of. This disc focuses very much on recent history, starting with the end of Bush I's term and focuses heavily on the economy under Clinton. There isn't a lot of information on Bush II's United States of 'Merica, probably because it's still so new and steamy.

This second part is both the natural progression of thinking from the first and an apology for any support the series seemed to give for advocating free markets.

I give Part I four stars and Part II two stars and with that I will close. The next post I’ll write is about Capitalism, Failure, and Mixed Economies.

While I would recommend Part I to people with some interest in these issues, I would not recommend the second part to anyone but practiced thinkers in the fields of economics, political philosophy, and history. The second part contains a dangerous mix of contradictory ideas and premises none of which are stated very explicitly.