Re: NACLA on RCTV

[sartesian <sartesian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Wasn't it Hegel who said "Liberalism is the philosophy of the abstract
that capitulates before the world of the concrete"?

Whoever said it, Mr. Shemano's comments are the proof of the assertion.

More than capitulation, there is real disavowal, denial of reality in
his (somewhat snide) musings--  socialists/animal farm, capitalists/
freedom.

It's the same sort of cognitive dissonance that marks religious sects,
UFO cults, and "rapture" enthusiasts.

The "economics" of Friedman or the Austrian liberals or Ayn Rand or
George Gulder are nothing but  ideologies;  are perhaps the greatest
achievement of political economy, being divorced  as they are from even
tangential contact with reality, based instead on sophistry, disavowal,
and the point of the bayonet.

Socialists as animal farmers?  How about free market economists as 1984
Orwellians-- war is peace, ignorance is strength, etc etc etc and
freedom?  Freedom is just another for the divine right of private
property.


----- Original Message -----
From: "michael a. lebowitz" <mlebowit@xxxxxx>
To: <PEN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 12:03 AM
Subject: Re: [PEN-L] NACLA on RCTV


> At 22:12 06/06/2007, david s wrote:
>
> >Just as it is easy money to predict without knowing any of the
particulars....
>
> The only thing predictable are david s's comments.
>          m
>
> Michael A. Lebowitz
> Professor Emeritus
> Economics Department
> Simon Fraser University
> Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
>
> Director, Programme in 'Transformative Practice and Human Development'
> Centro Internacional Miranda, P.H.
> Residencias Anauco Suites, Parque Central, final Av. Bolivar
> Caracas, Venezuela
> fax: 0212 5768274/0212 5777231
> http//:centrointernacionalmiranda.gob.ve
> mlebowit@xxxxxx
>