The Fatal Conceit (Errors In Socialism) - F. A. Hayek Audiobook

This post has 9 comments with rating of 5/59

• 
  caesar963
  April 8th, 2019
  

  

  You’re behind enemy lines with this one, Shappy. It’s certainly a fatal flaw that human perfectibility and Utopia cannot be centrally planned or designed. Or even achieved at all. A common sense insight that has nevertheless wholly escaped febrile advocates of increased State power on Left and right.

  The Fatal Conceit (Errors In Socialism) - F. A. Hayek
• 
  Gweilo
  April 8th, 2019
  

  Socialists have screwed up. Of course, capitalism has never had any bad outcomes. Just let the market solve everything. The solution to every problem — health care, education, police, climate change — is less government meddling and more rugged individualism. If you’re not rugged enough, if you weren’t born with a silver spoon in your mouth, you’re literally a born loser and deserve your fate. Make feudalism great again.

  The Fatal Conceit (Errors In Socialism) - F. A. Hayek
• 
  caesar963
  April 8th, 2019
  

  Rugged individualism can result in ragged individuals. Personally, I have no enthusiasm for capitalism. But I just know too much about the other systems, and what they did to human beings. The market has to be regulated and taxed in order to pay for all the other stuff. Where I live, everyone accepts this. Equality of opportunity is the condition that society consistently tries to fulfil (horrific parenting is an ever-present barrier - early intervention is crucial). Equality of outcome is the siren song of the hard left.

  It’s a bit of a false dichotomy to assert that the only logical alternative to socialism is feudalism.
  Market capitalism and competition results in innovation and striving to provide quality products, this is the reason the West has such a high standard of living; it also explains the gadgets, communications and services we’re utilising right now.

  Capitalism seems destined to be afflicted with cycles of boom and bust, but it succeeds most of the time in providing a level of prosperity. It’s polar opposite has a zero per-cent success rate. Voters prove time and again to favour this form of qualified capitalism, other systems would have to be imposed.
  Do you realise how vanishingly rare is your admission that socialism screwed up? Left-wing people try to deny this fact against all reason and logic, and then demonise those who tell the truth.

  The Fatal Conceit (Errors In Socialism) - F. A. Hayek
• 
  Roddd
  April 8th, 2019
  

  

  I think the final sentence of the summary pretty much nails it “the idea that “man is able to shape the world around him according to his wishes.””
  We have been and always will be our own biggest enemies due to the nature of our being. That nature is why we have failures no matter what system we are currently using and will be the eventual downfall of our species.
  Mankind is and always has been driven by factors bred into us right from our evolution and is a part of our genome - everything leads back to our initial tribal development.
  I will pick a couple easy ones….
  Xenophobia? We were suspicious of that group that lived in the next valley because we did not know them.
  Greed? We could hunt well but because our methods were rudimentary we stockpiled our kill for when we were unsuccessful.

  These two examples actually have wider meanings than per the dictionary.
  Xenophobia not only refers to someone from the next village/county/country etc., but also refers to people of other skin colour, religious beliefs and/or political ideologies.
  Greed is probably the biggest driver of our species and is why every ’system’ we have experimented with has failed. That greed for power, wealth or control is why Socialism can never be successful - because human beings are involved. Capitalism works more successfully due to that greed but of course the imbalance of wealth just drives the greed of the have-nots who by their inbuilt nature believe that if they can’t have something nobody else should.

  No matter what your ideological leaning WE are the biggest problem.

  The Fatal Conceit (Errors In Socialism) - F. A. Hayek
• 
  marcodiluce
  April 9th, 2019
  

  

  Thank you for a brilliant and timely share of another master’s work!

  The Fatal Conceit (Errors In Socialism) - F. A. Hayek
• 
  Gweilo
  April 10th, 2019
  

  @caesar: “It’s a bit of a false dichotomy to assert that the only logical alternative to socialism is feudalism.”

  As is the false dichotomy that any policy not agreeing with unbridled market forces = Venezuela, which the current GOP line of attack.

  Anyway, inequality in the US has been rising since Reagan, (e.g., Gini index). The middle class is being hollowed out. A few more decades and it’ll be the 1% and 99% serfs. GOP tax policies seem designed to accelerate this.

  The Fatal Conceit (Errors In Socialism) - F. A. Hayek
• 
  caesar963
  April 10th, 2019
  

  In addition, globalisation further cut the ground out from underneath people. It’s hard to project where anything is going, because of the exponential advances in technology (increased human obsolescence; universal basic income? Soylent Green?). As bad as it might possibly get, we’ll still have it a damn sight easier than people in the developing world, which will lead to strengthening Fortress Europe, Australia & America.

  The Fatal Conceit (Errors In Socialism) - F. A. Hayek
• 
  Askatazun
  April 23rd, 2019
  

  

  @Gweilo Socialism has never succeeded. Is it that preposterous to assume that the system that most closely resembles evolution, the progress from worms to man, will also and has also produced the greatest human progress? Until Marxists can directly address how their ideas contradict the psychological systems that prime us for competition and resource acquirement, that, due to producing the greatest progress, are morally superior to any stagnant system, their ideas will remain silly, unrealistic and deadly. Why is it that a single western country such as England produced more innovation than ALL Marxist countries combined? Marxism and anything it entails is (at best) the “perfect” equilibrium among worms at the bottom of the sea. No competition. No progress. The ultimate evil.

  People like Bernie Sanders have millions on the bank, yet you let them get away with it. But I’m supposed to believe that if this degree of hypocrisy isn’t pointed out here, when we give these people even more power, you’ll suddenly be outraged? The corruption was always already there, and you CONDONED it.

  The Fatal Conceit (Errors In Socialism) - F. A. Hayek
• 
  helloiamaaron
  November 29th, 2019
  

  @Askatazun

  Sanders is one of the poorest congressmen. In addition, he’s nearly 80. In this capitalist society it’s expected to have some assets.

  You’ll gladly point out his few million or two, but will ignore the case of the richest congressmen that are compromised by corporate interests.

  In addition, there have been few successful socialist countries. Successful in the sense that they did did their best to rid inequality. To name a few, Guatemala in the 50s before the US helped topple it. Burkino Faso.

  What good is US production if 1% control the government to their desires while millions live and die in poverty?

  The Fatal Conceit (Errors In Socialism) - F. A. Hayek

Add a comment