Skeptic Project

If some homeless guy came up to you on the street and asked you Ron Paul's sorts of questions, you would immediately assess him as a mental patient. I can see why some of the more rational conservatives consider him an embarrassment.

Apparently Ron Paul thinks inflation and medical expenses are connected, even though the latter has increased far more beyond inflation.

The video really shows Ron Paul has no idea what the fuck he's talking about.

Speaking of, I can't really understand what Barney Frank is saying most of the time, he really needs a speech therapist.

Thanks for the link, Edward.

Seriously, I have to ask: Do some well off people keep Austrian economics going, in defiance of market signals (e.g., private universities' lack of interest in teaching it) as a rationalization for investment scams?

Come to think of it, my speculation has some historical support. According to the Wikipedia article about von Mises:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Mises#Professional_life</p>

Fearing the prospect of Germany taking control over Switzerland, in 1940 Mises with other Jewish refugees left Europe and emigrated to New York City. There he became a visiting professor at New York University, from 1945 until his retirement in 1969, though he was not salaried by the university. Instead, he earned his living from funding by businessmen such as Lawrence Fertig.

If other universities allowed that, business men could use them as fronts for legitimizing the teaching of whatever crackpot ideas they want, like Intelligent Design.

When does everybody think the current Austrian economics craze will start to die out? I doubt Austrian economics will go away, however when will its popularity on the internet end? It was popular in the late 70s/early 80s and seemed to go away when the economy improved.

What will cause it to lose its popularity this time?

@ scitops:

When does everybody think the current Austrian economics craze will start to die out?

I suspect an astroturfing effort keeps it going. The market hasn't exactly rewarded Austrian economists by buying their books in mass quantities:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

"Uh, I thought the disaster started in 1913, with the creation of the Federal Reserve. According to my friend's 40 year rule, wouldn't that have caused U.S. fiat money to fail circa 1953?"

Yes, but despite your friend's apparent competence at physics, he is unable to recognize his incompetence at economics.