On the Extreme Economics Ignorance of Jon Favreau and Obama

Jon Favreau, a key speechwriter for Obama for 4 years, is defending Obamacare on the grounds of all the good things it accomplishes. I take him and Obama at their word. They believe that this legislation will accomplish all sorts of wonderful things to “bring us affordable health care.” Obama really believes it. But this belief shows how dreadfully ignorant of economics Favreau and his former boss are. Not arguing with their aims, the legislation is a portfolio of one instance after another of interventionism. In 1940, von Mises wrote a monograph explaining why interventionism doesn’t accomplish the goals that the interventionists hope to accomplish. Those analyses and lessons have been repeated and amplified countless times since then (and also before). But here we are in 2013 with massive ignorance of economics still prevalent in government and among the American people.

Obviously college economics curricula are not teaching von Mises. In one way or another, they are teaching interventionism, despite the fact that Mises demolished it, showing that it would not even get the liberals and progressives what they themselves say they wanted for the people.

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5:06 pm on December 2, 2013