Ten Recurring Economic Fallacies, 1774-2004

An interesting read by H.A. Scott Trask (an adjunct scholar of the Mises Institute): Ten Recurring Economic Fallacies, 1774-2004

Some may see Trask’s stance as ’soft’ yet the truth is: the effect of government policy on the people is soft in that what is generally perceived is but only a gist of what actually occurs, icebergs.

The idea is this: Governments have manufactured many ways to achieve their goals without necessarily having to burden (tax, notify etc) their people with the details. An example of which is borrowing money and inflating currency (myth #3) in times of war. The effect is then increased cost of war (interest) and massive borrowing which eventually…

“…drives up prices, increases costs, enlarges debt, spawns malinvestments and speculation, and worsens the redistributive effects of war spending”

…which are all soft effects of war-time borrowing.

“Adam Smith believed that the war should be financed by a levy on capital. This way the people of the country understand how much the war is costing them, and then can better judge whether it is really necessary.”

Anyway, Ten Recurring Economic Fallacies is a good read.

Enjoy!