Gustav Fourie

[Handre @Handre]

The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-Murray Rothbard

[Handre @Handre]

Carl Menger's 1871 "Principles of Economics" delivered a fatal blow to Marx's labor theory of value before Das Kapital was even finished. While Marx was busy concocting his exploitation fairy tales, Menger proved that value is subjective and determined by individual preferences, not some mystical "socially necessary labor time." The entire Marxist edifice crumbled before it was even built, but academics were too busy playing revolutionary to notice.

The subjective theory of value doesn't just destroy socialism—it obliterates every government intervention based on "objective" value assessments. When bureaucrats set prices, allocate resources, or determine "fair wages," they're operating under the delusion that value exists independently of human choice. They're central planners cosplaying as economists.

Every minimum wage law, rent control, and antitrust case stems from the fatal conceit that value can be measured objectively by political decree. Menger showed us 150 years ago that this is impossible, yet we still let politicians pretend they know better than voluntary market exchanges. The Austrian school didn't just win the intellectual debate—they ended it.

[Atlas Press @realAtlasPress]

Nietzsche just kicks you in the chest sometimes

[Handre @Handre]

Argentina has cycled through 7 different currencies in the past 100 years, each one eventually succumbing to the inevitable fate of government money: debasement and collapse. From the peso moneda nacional to today's peso, each currency started with promises of stability and ended with Argentinians rushing to exchange their rapidly depreciating bills for anything of real value.

The pattern is always the same: fiscal deficits lead to money printing, money printing leads to inflation, and inflation leads to currency collapse. The austral launched in 1985 lost 99.9% of its value before being replaced by the peso convertible in 1991, which itself collapsed spectacularly in 2001 during Argentina's debt crisis.

What's remarkable isn't that Argentina keeps destroying its currencies—it's that people keep believing the government's promises that "this time will be different." Each new currency comes with elaborate exchange rate mechanisms, backing promises, and anti-inflation rhetoric, yet the fundamental problem remains: politicians cannot resist the printing press when faced with spending demands they cannot fund through taxation or legitimate borrowing.

The Argentine peso has lost over 99% of its value just since 2001, making it one of the worst performing currencies globally. This monetary chaos isn't inevitable—it's the predictable result of entrusting money creation to the same institution that benefits most from debasing it.

[Handre @Handre]

In 2008, while the world rushed to bail out "too big to fail" banks, tiny Iceland did the unthinkable: they let their bloated banks collapse. The krona crashed 50%, protesters banged pots outside parliament, and economists predicted doom.

But here's the twist - Iceland recovered faster than any other crisis-hit nation. By 2012, their economy was growing again while Europe wallowed in austerity. They prosecuted bankers instead of rewarding them, and GDP per capita soon exceeded pre-crisis levels.

The lesson? Sometimes the best cure for a financial hangover is to actually feel it, not reach for another drink.

Iceland proved that creative destruction works better than zombie banks.