Mangled Thoughts

Last week we concentrated on the CIS and its treacherous betrayal of Australians and the free market cause by pushing carbon taxes. This required a follow-up today.

This item is a lead into the IPA and the tremendous damage it has caused to the free market cause and it’s success in delivering victories to the Left, and readers will recollect the IPA published a bumper issue blaming Howard for the failures that lead to the defeat of Howard in the 2007 election and so, for example:

Liberal Party: Right-wing continue to blame Howard for election defeat

A two pronged attack. The spine uniting the two tines is lousy economics and we shall proceed from this and into the IPA. Though, it must be said that at least the CIS has ceased pretending to be a genuine free market think tank when it took up the ‘let’s wipe out Australians with carbon taxes’ diseased, hard Left cause. Still, lousy economics is the common link.

A noticeable thing occurred at the forum. John Quiggin no longer attacks free markets as such. He has narrowed his attack to “neo-Liberals”, a tag that is directly pinned to the CIS and IPA. This is not an accident.  When Quiggin did directly attack free market economics, he was eviscerated by Jackson. He has not attacked genuine free market economics again and this is reinforced by the observation that when Quiggin commented on the financial market meltdown last year, he did not blame it on free markets as such, he pinned it to “neo-liberalism” and “neo-classical economics”.

Oddly enough, soon after Jackson eviscerated the new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, for the atrocious rubbish he wrote against Hayek and free markets, Rudd also narrowed his attack to “neo-liberalism”. As a very good guess, Rudd was told to do this because of the obvious. He has never mentioned free markets since. The trouble is, Rudd, his Cabinet, and those ‘advising them’ are attacking free markets, sapping them, and overthrowing them through their policies. How can they get away this?

For the purposes of public warfare, the Right and their lousy notions, buttressed by the IPA and CIS has been firmly identified as the genuine free market cause. This is how destructive not only Right-wing politicians and their advisers have been. It is a damning indictment of the IPA and CIS.

The discrediting of the free market cause by these clowns has been reinforced by the mainstream media, because there is none in it who publicly correct and attack the errors and lousy economics. This has made it, along the way, for the RBA and Treasurers to get away with lousy, destructive policies. No wide public debate in coverage means Treasurers and the RBA face little or no damage and humiliation. It means they face little pressure, and the Left know this and why this is important:

Great causes are won or lost not between a few politicians, their advisers, and think tanks muttering between themselves. The Left know the voting man has to be convinced of  a cause; exactly the point to why the Right blew the campaign blew the fight for free labour markets and made it very easy for the ACTU to convince enough voters to turn against reform. Some of those responsible for this disaster are not only in the club primarily responsible for this disaster, the HR. Nicholls Society. Some, notably Ray Evans and Des Moore are in the IPA too. It might also be remarked, the CIS also did its bit to wreck that cause by publishing their own lousy, destructive, notions on labour market economics and reform. All this was, for good measure, reinforced by more garbage from Andrew Bolt and Janet Albrechtsen.

Von Mises remarked, any competent economist can smash the Left and he lead by example. What stuffs the IPA and the CIS are not competent and the Right that has wrecked the Liberal Party have no one in their ranks who is competent either.

 An article illustrates what the Left are attacking freely. The interesting thing is, it is written by a Leftist who is, on the strength of the content an illiterate but has summarised what has been identified as the free market position and it is false, entirely false. So long as the Right and their think tanks remain centre stage and identified with the genuine Liberal cause, they and not the Left will continue to sink it. It is, after all, why Rudd and his gang of thugs are in office.

Neoliberal pseudo-science

The article will be pinned to the IPA in the course of this week as we push on to carve up this pack of spineless clowns.

We leave off with a sharp contrast. Here is Jackson carving up Leftists in solid defence of free markets:

Free labour markets and a leftwing academic’s propaganda 

Australian protectionists do not even know what they are talking about 

Labour market reform and the costs argument

America’s credit crunch — we’ve been there before 

Professor John Quiggin gets it wrong on taxes and jobs 

Socialist economist screws up on free trade and Keynesian policies 

Savings, jobs and Professor Quiggin’s bad economics* 

Government spending and jobs — another Keynesian fallacy 

9-11, an academic’s libels and Letelier’s treason 

Kevin Rudd’s economic illiteracy and his attack on Hayek

What makes the contrast all the more amusing is, while Jackson shredded Quiggin effortlessly, the CIS and IPAare scared witless of Quiggin, who happily bounces these rubber balls.

It is well to add in a defence that is also in stark contrast to the IPA’s self serving “let’s bash Howard” exercise,

Kevin Rudd’s imaginary contradiction, by Charles Murton, published in Brookesnews.

Readers, to gauge, can now appreciate why one did not rush in with the treatment of the IPA last Friday. There is more involved than generalised shots. There is much involved and it needs systematic setting out and, by gum, I’ll enjoy working up every bit of it.