Not until September 17, 2008, did a panicked Fed-

Last week in a post on the event of 2008 Boyes described the government reaction in the US as panic.


Jeffrey Rogers Hummel writing over at CATO agrees:

"Not until September 17, 2008, did a panicked Fed finally set off a monetary explosion, doubling the base in less than four months."

Peter Boettke repeats this government use of panic over on The Austrian Economists:

"Stiglitz says "Economics would have suggested that if you did a debt to equity conversion, converting long-term debt into equity, the financial institution would be well capitalized, there would be no reason to panic, and there would be more confidence in the market. But those who saw an opportunity to use scare tactics to get what they wanted did use those scare tactics, and it worked." Prescott argues that with "benign neglect the economy would have come roaring back quite quickly..."

I am not certain about the issue of intentionality - crediting the agents who work for the state for this level of Rove like or Emanuel like foresight seems, to be improbable, but regardless of intent, the agents of the state clearly created panic and a "war mentality" to deal with the events of 2008.

In a post over on Taking Hayek Seriously - a passage from The Road to Serfdom seems on point:

"To make a totalitarian system function efficiently, it is not enough that everybody be forced to work for the same ends. It is essential that the people should come to regard them as their own ends." (“THE END OF TRUTH” and it’s chapter 11 of The Road to Serfdom, pp. 171-180 in the Collected Works edition)

So there is clearly a dual intent in the actions of the agents of the state, particularly over the past 75 years - from Hoover to FDR to Bush(es) to Obama the ultimate goal is" that the people should come to regard them[the ends of the agents of the state] as their own ends."

In stark contrast to this collectivism we hear the voices of Boyes and others suggesting individual and independent analysis and freedom of action. The acceleration of collectivist mentality poses a much greater threat to liberty than the mere actions of the state. To the extent that the agents of the state succeed in achieving collectivist mentality the scope and breadth of liberty are sharply curtailed leading to the Road to Serfdom.