Ludwig von Mises writes:
Does Gustav Schmoller remind you of anyone alive today?
In the defining manifesto of the Post-Autistic Movement, James Devine writes:
Only forty years passed from the time of Gustav Schmoller to that of Adolph Hitler. How many years will it take for the Post-Autistics to find their own Hitler?
Do you want to fight the Nazis again? Or would it be more effective to denounce the Post-Autistic movement now, before they arm themselves? I remind you: Rifles and bullets alone do not win wars; it takes ideas to press rifles into the hands of men. Win the war of ideas and you will have won the war before a single shot has been fired.
Economics in the second German Reich, as represented by the government-appointed university professors, degenerated into an unsystematic, poorly assorted collection of various scraps of knowledge borrowed from history, geography, technology, jurisprudence, and party politics, larded with deprecatory remarks about the errors in the "abstractions" of the Classical School.
After 1866, the men who came into the academic career had only contempt for "bloodless abstractions." They published historical studies, preferably such as dealt with labor conditions of the recent past. Many of them were firmly convinced that the foremost task of economists was to aid the "people" in the war of liberation they were waging against the "exploiters."
This was the position Gustav Schmoller embraced with regard to economics. Again and again he blamed the economists for having prematurely made inferences from quantitatively insufficient material. What, in his opinion, was needed in order to substitute a realistic science of economics for the hasty generalizations of the British "armchair" economists was more statistics, more history, and more collection of "material." Out of the results of such research the economists of the future, he maintained, would one day develop new insights by "induction."
The political significance of the work of the Historical School consisted in the fact that it rendered Germany safe for the ideas, the acceptance of which made popular with the German people all those disastrous policies that resulted in the great catastrophes. The aggressive imperialism that twice ended in war and defeat, the limitless inflation of the early 1920s, the Zwangswirtschaft and all the horrors of the Nazi regime were achievements of politicians who acted as they had been taught by the champions of the Historical School.
Does Gustav Schmoller remind you of anyone alive today?
In the defining manifesto of the Post-Autistic Movement, James Devine writes:
The original statements by the rebellious French economics students define autistic economics in terms of its one-sided and exclusionary interest in "imaginary worlds," "uncontrolled use of mathematics" and the absence of pluralism of approaches in economics. The hard-core autistic walling off from the societal environment can be seen most strongly in the specific, highly abstract, axiomatic school that the students protested against.
Only forty years passed from the time of Gustav Schmoller to that of Adolph Hitler. How many years will it take for the Post-Autistics to find their own Hitler?
Do you want to fight the Nazis again? Or would it be more effective to denounce the Post-Autistic movement now, before they arm themselves? I remind you: Rifles and bullets alone do not win wars; it takes ideas to press rifles into the hands of men. Win the war of ideas and you will have won the war before a single shot has been fired.
To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. - Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on June 26
- Rewards: Gold: 1000, Silver: 500, Bronze: 250, Honorable mention: 5 people
- Final notes: Very good! I struggled to decide between the gold and the silver. Both poems were excellent.
Note: The five poems that received an honorable mention are not necessarily in order. All were well-written, but they were not quite as on-topic as the top three.
Contest Winners
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by Red Rocket 37 lines, 6 comments, on May 22 5:58 AM. In Contest, Economics, Thoughts
Gold trophy winner
• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
One day, when I was chatting
With a fellow who I knew• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
The latest mess the financiers have made
Is living proof that puts others in the shade• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
Doubtful hearts will find sorrow.• Viewed by judge. [remove]
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Our fair country
Is sinking into a pit• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
On the day of my nomination,
few hours before the celebration,• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
Prior to WW2 NO ONE
imagined the effect• Viewed by judge. [remove]
Silver trophy winner
Bronze trophy winner
Honorable mention
Entries [11]
1 - 11 of 11
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Farmer Brownshirt works in silence
with only the rustling wind in the corn• Commented on by judge. -
• Viewed by judge.
Add a comment
Comments
1 - 21 of 21
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I don't know if I will end up finding the time to enter, but I wanted to compliment you on a thought provoking, eye-opening contest idea.
As Edmund Burke said: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. " -
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Sound wisdom.
As Edmund Burke said: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. "
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Someone has a problem with autistic people.
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Yeah, they're using the word "autistic" like an insult.
"Autism is a neurological disorder. It is not a methodological approach, an attitude, or a worldview. It is not a variety of solipsism. Implying that the position of one's intellectual opponent is attributable to a neurological disorder is a pathetic debating tactic." - Lawrence H. White
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the sell out
The first Capitalist world crisis 1931 was siezed upon by Hitler but instead of blaming the Capitalist system he scapegoated the Jews he used the word Socialist to con the
German trade unions the word national in the title was for
the flag waving "Patriots" the German Capitalist class made a fortune out of hitlers aggression tucked away in swiss banks
The socalists and communists who wanted to end Capitalism
ended up in concentration camps with the jews,After Hitler's
armies were driven back to Berlin by the Soviet army
the east German capitalists Hitlers backers fled to west germany where they were able to keep their ill gotten gains
from munitions and concentration camp poison gas.
where as eventually their factories in the east were
nationalised by legistlation. -
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Stalin starved 25 million Russian peasants.
When the Ukrainians tried to resist, he starved seven million of them. The German people were justly afraid of meeting Ukraine's fate.
However, the purpose of this poetry contest is to compare Gustav Schmoller of the German Historical School to James Devine of the Post-Autistic Movement.
Talk about Nazi book burning and compare it to this site:
www.toxictextbooks.com
If you want to argue communism vs. fascism vs. capitalism, register at this forum and I will discuss it with you.
http://www.politicalcrossfire.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=125248
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What's post autistic?
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Someone knows thier history! Nice contest, I'll try to enter.
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Thanks!
I look forward to reading your entry.
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the advent of Fascism
So the self styled master debater ignores the premise and
changes the subject.Fascism usualy happens when the Capitalist ruling class can't retain Capitalism by "democratic" means for example Chile, the freely elected
Allende government(socialist)was overthrown by fascist
dictator Pinochet financed aided and abetted by the C.I.A.
when thousands of Democrats were slautered in a football stadium.The C.I.A.tried the same trick in Venezuela after
Hugo Chavez was twice elected but failed I watched it on b.b.c.television one of many in history.
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I'm not going to tell you again.
The purpose of this poetry contest is to compare Gustav Schmoller of the German Historical School to James Devine of the Post-Autistic Movement.
If you want to talk about the CIA, Pinochet, Chavez, et al, then go to a political forum. I gave you a link.
I can and will delete off-topic comments.
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wow, this is a bit out of my depth to be honest. im terrible at politics, and what i do know is what my boyfriend has drummed into me. i could write a poem on what is happening today ie government and hoodie culture similar to hitlers methods, but subtle. would that be ok, or am i completely off topic? cheers lucy x
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Write about the banning of books.
The purpose of this poetry contest is to compare Gustav Schmoller of the German Historical School to James Devine of the Post-Autistic Movement.
The website www.toxictextbooks.com advocates banning certain textbooks, which they denounce as "toxic."
Regarding hoodie culture, here in the US that refers to Black "gangsta" culture, which is anathema to the Neo-Nazis. I don't think skinheads wear hoods. Maybe they do in GB.
I don't like the Neo-Nazis one bit, and I've written a short story denouncing them that you might want to comment on. But, as I told the author of Rightwing Footsteps, that is not what I am looking for in this contest.
The skinheads aren't the ones burning textbooks. It's the Post-Autistic Economists.
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well i have bookmarked this, so i might be back to submit a poem. if not, i will still have a dig through all the info you have given me, just another reason to hate people i suppose hahaha thanks x
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I will deffinatley be back to check this out
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I look forward to reading your entry!
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Damn. Definitely bookmarking. I'll try to write a poem and not an essay lol
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You can write free verse.
If you want to write a more scholarly essay, PM me. I may put it on my website or I can help you place it on an economics forum.
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We are fighting the Nazi's again, except they're called Islamo-fascists now. Same power-hungry psychopaths, different day. The Germans blamed the Jews for their lack of success, the fundamentalist Islamists blame the infidels. You are correct that wars are won faster and easier with ideas as well as guns. Unfortunately, the liberal media wants to forget 9/11, wish away the evil we're fighting, and paint us as the bad guy instead of them. Unfortunately, it will probably take another massive attack on American soil to remind liberal Americans of the depth of evil we're up against, just as it took footage smuggled into the U.S. of human skeletons with sunken eyes standing behind chicken wire in German concentration camps to remind Americans seventy years ago and mobilize them to do something to stop it.
Good luck in your contest. It's good to see an intellectual contest here for a change instead of "poems about cutting" and "your best erotica." lol -
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I'm no fan of Islamic extremists,
as should be clear from my recent post, You might be Taliban if... However, I never thought the term "Islamo-fascist" was particularly accurate. Bush trying to equate himself with Roosevelt was about as successful a ploy as his trying to equate Hussein with bin Laden.
But whatever you want to call them, comment at my anti-Taliban post. (You and The Poet of Hearts should have a good ol' time. LOL) The purpose of this poetry contest is to compare Gustav Schmoller of the German Historical School to James Devine of the Post-Autistic Movement.
Write about the banning of books. The website www.toxictextbooks.com advocates banning certain textbooks, which they denounce as "toxic." That is my concern here, not the Taliban.
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