It takes only a whiff of socialism to get Ed Longinotti (U6) into his chain mail and on his horse, lance at the ready.Imagine his state of readiness reading this piece in The Times.
So here is Ed's letter to the Editor of The Times followed by my challenge (alternatively, you can now read Ed's letter on The Times website by clicking here):
Dear Sir,
Naomi Klein feels vindicated because ‘she did warn us’. Anyone with a basic understanding of free market economics and history could have warned us. A free market economy will always suffer from recession, as Joseph Schumpeter put it ‘they are the winds of creative destructive’ [I think Ed means 'creative destruction'], reallocating resources from inefficient to efficient firms. Such a process has been experienced in every free market economy, for example ‘tulipomania’ in 17th Century Amsterdam. To suggest that the current recession represents the collapse of the free market system is an unjustified leap; it is merely an integral process of the capitalist model. Klein asserts that any gap left by the apparent failure of free market economics must be filled by the left – or else fascism will ensue. However there is no alternative proven system to that of individual liberty and free market economics. The left has never been able to propose a practical alternative, as the experiences of the 20th century and the Soviet Union show. Indeed, socialism and fascism have strong connections, for socialism depends on the sort of collectivisation and centralisation of control that in the words of Adam Smith puts governments in a position where ‘to support themselves they are obliged to be tyrannical’. Socialism is not the path to freedom, for it is inherently authoritarian. Such criticism of this kind is not to be confused with dogmatic support for laissez faire economics, but is based on the concept that where individual competition can be created, it is a better way of guiding the allocation of efforts and resources than any other. It does not deny, but indeed emphasizes that for competition to work beneficially a carefully thought out legal framework is required – perhaps more carefully thought out than the current framework.
Yours faithfully,
E. Longinotti, King’s School Chester, Upper Sixth.
Naomi Klein feels vindicated because ‘she did warn us’. Anyone with a basic understanding of free market economics and history could have warned us. A free market economy will always suffer from recession, as Joseph Schumpeter put it ‘they are the winds of creative destructive’ [I think Ed means 'creative destruction'], reallocating resources from inefficient to efficient firms. Such a process has been experienced in every free market economy, for example ‘tulipomania’ in 17th Century Amsterdam. To suggest that the current recession represents the collapse of the free market system is an unjustified leap; it is merely an integral process of the capitalist model. Klein asserts that any gap left by the apparent failure of free market economics must be filled by the left – or else fascism will ensue. However there is no alternative proven system to that of individual liberty and free market economics. The left has never been able to propose a practical alternative, as the experiences of the 20th century and the Soviet Union show. Indeed, socialism and fascism have strong connections, for socialism depends on the sort of collectivisation and centralisation of control that in the words of Adam Smith puts governments in a position where ‘to support themselves they are obliged to be tyrannical’. Socialism is not the path to freedom, for it is inherently authoritarian. Such criticism of this kind is not to be confused with dogmatic support for laissez faire economics, but is based on the concept that where individual competition can be created, it is a better way of guiding the allocation of efforts and resources than any other. It does not deny, but indeed emphasizes that for competition to work beneficially a carefully thought out legal framework is required – perhaps more carefully thought out than the current framework.
Yours faithfully,
E. Longinotti, King’s School Chester, Upper Sixth.
My challenge
Best response to Ed (starting 'Dear Ed') will be published on the blog.
Best response to Ed (starting 'Dear Ed') will be published on the blog.
1 comments:
Congratulations to Ed on the publication of his letter in today's Times. A King's first?
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