At least one science fiction author has a pretty sound grasp of economic theory and history, and of the current financial crisis.
Ludwig von Mises over half a century ago proved, beyond a shadow of doubt, that a little intervention in one sector of the economy creates an incentive for a lot of intervention in ever larger sections of the economy; and the government must forswear either the goals it has set as policy or the means selected to pursue them to resist, if ever, that incentive, and suffer the humiliation and financial loss of reversing long-standing policy. (A nice summary of his argument can be read here: http://mises.org/midroad.asp. A complete study of the underlying logic and epistemology can be read here: http://mises.org/resources/3250.)
Read the rest. He even mentions Bastiat.
There are two things he says that jumped out at me that I must disagree with, however.
Sadly, one cannot run a free market republic in a land where the citizens are ignorant of the basic scientific laws governing the market relations.
I agree wholeheartedly with this, except for the part about running a republic. We don’t need anyone to be running any kind of republic. The state itself is an evil. We shouldn’t settle for a free market republic. And no free market republic could ever remain free market for long anyway.
The other point of disagreement is that he seems to blame the financial crisis on the wealth-transferring “Dems,” as in Democrats I assume, but the Republicans are guilty of wealth transfer from Main Street to Wall Street too. Precious few Republican politicians give more than lip service to the free market. McCain is no small government, free market man.
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“Precious few Republican politicians give more than lip service to the free market. McCain is no small government, free market man.”
Oh, I agree with this wholeheartedly. The Republican party is not the conservative party, not the capitalist party, and certainly not the laissez-faire party. They are not even the return-to-the-gold-standard party.