Varying F. Hayek views from different part of his life. Interesting read, he wasn't a wingnut and obviously wanted what was the best option given how the real world works...

http://www.fff.org/freedom/0899b.asp


Excerpt, Road to Serfdom era Hayek:

Quote:"That the monetary system must be under central control has never, to my mind, been denied by any sensible person. It is part of that [government] framework within which competition can work." And when asked whether the Federal Reserve was "socialistic in character," Hayek replied, "Do not make me responsible for all the nonsense which has ever been talked by anybody."

15 yrs later:

Quote:Fifteen years later, in his treatise The Constitution of Liberty (1960), Hayek argued, "The experience of the last fifty years has taught most people the importance of a stable monetary system.... The inflationary bias of our day is largely the result of the prevalence of the short-term view" fostered and popularized by Keynes through the "fundamentally antiliberal aphorism, 'In the long run we are all dead.'"

Hayek stated that discretionary monetary policies to maintain "full employment" had produced nothing but dangerous inflationary tendencies throughout the Western world. It was understandable, therefore, that many now looked back wistfully to the earlier era of monetary stability under the gold standard and advocated its return. But, he declared, "It is important to be clear at the outset that this is not only politically impracticable today but would probably be undesirable if it were possible."

Instead, Hayek proposed a government monetary authority that would pursue "the reasonable goal of a high and stable level of employment" through "aiming at the stability of some comprehensive price level" by means of adjusting the quantity of money in the economy to any changes in the general demand for money by transactors in the market. Thus, Hayek advocated both a general monetary "rule" — stability of a "price level" — and a monetary central-planning authority possessing the discretion to modify the supply of money to reflect changes in the demand for money.

older Hayek:

Quote:Hayek outlined a system of free, competitive private banking, outside the control of government, that would supply the money used in the market society. By "private competitive currencies," however, Hayek did not mean a system of private and independent banks accepting deposits in, say, gold or silver, and issuing coins or paper notes representing fixed quantities of gold and silver, redeemable on demand. Instead, he suggested a system of alternative currencies in which each issuing bank would promise and attempt to keep the value of its private money constant through an expansion or contraction of its currency in circulation.

The criterion for what type of action would be called for in any particular situation would be an index of commodity prices representing a market basket of "widely traded products such as raw materials, agricultural foodstuffs and certain standardized semi-finished products." When the index began to rise, it would be a signal for that bank to withdraw its currency from circulation, and when the index began to fall, to increase the quantity of its currency outstanding.

Why would a currency of "stable value" be desired by the public? Because, Hayek argued, the requirements of economic calculation and the desire for less uncertainty involving contracts for deferred payments would probably make this the most preferred type of medium of exchange. The possible utilization of alternative competing monies available on the market would act as a restraint on reckless monetary expansion on the part of any bank. The expansionist bank would soon find its money depreciated in relation to other market currencies. Either the bank would have to return to a more conservative loan-making and money-issuing policy or face repudiation on the part of the public. "This is the process by which the unreliable currencies would gradually all be eliminated," Hayek reasoned.

Seriously, how can any Internet message board thread mentioning "Hayek" not be about THE Hayek?

For example ...





Sorry to threadjack, but it had to be done.

Please, carry one.

(01-25-2010 03:35 PM)BGSUalum1987 Wrote:  Seriously, how can any Internet message board thread mentioning "Hayek" not be about THE Hayek?

For example ...





Sorry to threadjack, but it had to be done.

Please, carry one.

Thanks.....

You beat me to the punch.

Boobies!

Man, I could motorboat that chick.

Wait, what were we talking about again?