Category Archives: Books and movies

FME3

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This is from the Elgar mailout for Free Market Economics, Third Edition, An Introduction for the General Reader, just released.

Free Market Economics, Third Edition

An Introduction for the General Reader

Steven Kates, Associate Professor of Economics, School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

If you are genuinely interested in what is wrong with modern economics, this is where you can find out. If you would like to understand the flaws in Keynesian macro, this is the book you must read. If you are interested in marginal analysis properly explained, you again need to read this book. Based on the classical principles of John Stuart Mill, it is what is missing today; a text based on explaining how an economy works from a supply-side perspective.

In this thoroughly updated third edition of Free Market Economics, Steven Kates assesses economic principles based on classical economic theory. Rejecting mainstream Keynesian and neoclassical approaches even though they are thoroughly covered in the text, Kates instead looks at economics from the perspective of an entrepreneur making decisions in a world where the future is unknown, innovation is a continuous process and the future is being created before it can be understood.

Key Features include:

• analysis derived from the theories of pre-Keynesian classical economists, as this is the only source available today that explains the classical pre-Keynesian theory of the business cycle

• a focus on the entrepreneur as the driving force in economic activity rather than on anonymous ‘forces’ as found in most economic theory today

• introduces a powerful though simplified model to explain the difference between modern theory of recession and classical theory of the business cycle

• great emphasis is placed on the consequences of decision making under uncertainty

• offers an introductory understanding, accessible to the non-specialist reader.

The aim of this book is to redirect the attention of economists and policy makers towards the economic theories that prevailed in earlier times. Their problems were little different from ours but their way of understanding the operation of an economy and dealing with those problems was completely different.

Free Market Economics, Third Edition will help students and general readers understand classical economic theory, written by someone who believes that this now-discarded approach to economic thought was superior to what is found in most of our textbooks today.

Critical Acclaim

Contents

Entrepreneurship good and not so good

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On the plane ride to Canada we watched The Founder which is about Ray Kroc turning the conception behind this minor fast food outlet that opened in Los Angeles in the 1950s into the international McDonald’s phenomenon it became and still is. I had read a few reviews of the film but had never run across it in Australia so was very happy to finally see it for myself. An extraordinary film on entrepreneurship, which shows the extent to which it is the commercialisation of a product that matters most, not innovation or invention. Highly recommended.

But I do have to say that whoever had the idea for the “McWrap” here in Canada might have come up with the worst name for a product in marketing history. Not a joke: it really does exist.

It was my book that Andrew Bolt was launching when he was attacked

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From Instapundit: PUNCH BACK TWICE AS HARD: Protesters get more than they bargain for when Andrew Bolt bashes back. To which Glenn Reynolds has added:

Good for him. Lefty violence exists mostly because violent lefties are used to operating with impunity. Don’t let them do that.

And now we have another Instapundit reference: SPEAKING OF “PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD,” with this further link: ANDREW BOLT’S CALL TO INTIMIDATE: HUMILIATE ENEMIES OF FREE SPEECH COMES WITH REAL-LIFE INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO.

Here then is a third: TOLERANCE: Aussie Conservative Andrew Bolt Fights Off Antifa Ambush.

And bless my soul, also at Ace of Spades: Profa Punks Sucker Punch Australian Conservative Pundit Andrew Bolt; Surprised to Learn Real Men Hit Back; US Media Does Not Report, Does Not Condemn.

Also discussed at National Review Online: Thunder Down Under: Aussie Columnist Fights Off Antifa which has been re-posted at Powerline.

And now on Drudge! Both of the links are to the same article, but there are the two links.

Columnist fights off attackers in dramatic video…

Launch party for Trump book…

The attack on the streets of Melbourne and Andrew’s response is certainly worth the attention it has received and more, but whether I will sell a single additional copy of the book is another thing, so let me add that it was my book on the election of Donald Trump that Andrew was launching: The Art of the Impossible. You should buy the book if you want to understand why Trump won the election and why you should be ecstatic that he did. From my speaking notes for the launch.

• if you wanted Trump to win, or are even just happy that he did win, this is a wander through all of the most important moments that brought him to the presidency
• it is the first book ever published that is entirely made up of blog posts written at the time – it is entirely forward moving beginning with a discussion on Obama under the heading “Politics is what you can get away with”
• that the book is entirely comprised of blog posts is significant because:

• it tells a contemporary tale as it happened returning you to the moments themselves
• no post was written in the knowledge of hindsight – everything is discussed as it happened so that you can revisit the tensions of the time
• it is written by someone whose own personal political agenda was virtually identical to Trump’s – our overlap was 94%
• it helps explain why Trump became president
• it helps explain why we should be eternally grateful that Trump became president
• it shows how high the stakes were
• it shows that Hillary is right that Comey was the reason she lost but that Comey was acting under the instructions of Loretta Lynch who was herself acting under the instructions of Obama

• the book is part narrative, part excerpts from others writing at the time, part history and part political philosophy – it is told as it happens but as a 400-page volume the effect is as much philosophical as it is a reminder of the sequence of events and why you should be grateful things turned out the way they did.

Buy the book and read it for yourself, just as Andrew Bolt recommended on the day and in the link above.

The next day after the launch

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It was frightening while we waited to hear how Andrew Bolt had survived the attack, and while it was only ten minutes, the impact will not recede soon. A day later we are mostly back to where we were, unlike the two dead Australian women in London. This is Andrew’s take where we find this picture and also at the link Andrew’s presentation.

And this is the report from The Age. The comments thread is actually evenly divided which it being The Age is actually positive news. What no one seems to appreciate is that with the murders in London and here in Brighton just the day before, no one has the time to work out in advance who the attackers are or what they intend to do. This time paint, next time who knows?

Bob Dylan’s Nobel lecture

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Here is some of the text via the BBC. This excerpt is about books he read when young that influenced and have remained with him to this day.

“Specific books that have stuck with me ever since I read them way back in grammar school – I want to tell you about three of them: Moby Dick, All Quiet on the Western Front and The Odyssey.”

He described Moby Dick as “a fascinating book, a book that’s filled with scenes of high drama and dramatic dialogue”.

“All Quiet on the Western Front is a horror story. This is a book where you lose your childhood, your faith in a meaningful world, and your concern for individuals.

“The Odyssey is a great book whose themes have worked its way into the ballads of a lot of songwriters: Homeward Bound, Green, Green Grass of Home, Home on the Range, and my songs as well,” he said. . . .

“Our songs are alive in the land of the living. But songs are unlike literature. They’re meant to be sung, not read. The words in Shakespeare’s plays were meant to be acted on the stage. Just as lyrics in songs are meant to be sung, not read on a page.

“And I hope some of you get the chance to listen to these lyrics the way they were intended to be heard: in concert or on record or however people are listening to songs these days. I return once again to Homer, who says, ‘Sing in me, oh Muse, and through me tell the story.'”

He is a worthy recipient of the prize.

Violent thugs attack speaker at Art of the Impossible book launch

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This is taken up from Catallaxy: Violence at Kates’ book launch of my The Art of the Impossible which you can order here. This is how the story was conveyed.

I’ve heard reports of actual fisticuffs at Steve Kates’ book launch. Andrew Bolt was attacked by left-wing thugs. Word is that Andrew fought off his attackers, and has it on tape – expect to see an awesome Bolt Report tonight.

Update: From Andrew’s blog

… masked Left-wing protesters attack me outside a Melbourne book launch. Police are now looking for a Left-wing fascist with a big bruise on his face and another between his legs. They also want to speak to a tubbier protester once he’s stopped running. We’ll show the video tonight.

STEVE NOW ADDS: You hear that Andrew has been attacked and you fear only the worst but while this time they went off worse for wear, it is a true worry that this is our world now. We are people for whom words, argument and reason are what counts, but for the psychopaths on the other side they have nothing to offer but vacuous cliches and violence.

The afternoon, in spite of its start, was fascinating and I enjoyed hearing Andrew’s views on Trump and the massive problems we face. We are in a war, but it is our own modern Thirty Years War which no one today can be certain of its outcome. As for my book, we sold out every copy. But let me just mention this which is a comment from the earlier post advertising the launch:

It’s everything you say it is. I enjoyed it immensely. Good luck with the launch.

So thank you to Mique who has become the first person to have actually read and then comment on the book.

Every day provides an additional example on why we are fortunate Trump is president and how bad things could get without him.

Melbourne book launch tomorrow speaking notes

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Aside from hearing me discuss The Art of the Impossible, the only book published in Australia about the most important American election of our times, you can also listen to Andrew Bolt discussing Donald Trump and the American election while meeting other interesting people who are politically sympathetic to your own ideas. So come along. The details:

12:00 noon on Tuesday June 6. The venue:

Il Gambero
166 Lygon Street
Carlton, VIC 3053

And here are my speaking notes.

About me:

• Canadian born
• university graduate in Politics, Philosophy and Economics
• began on the student left
• moved to the right with the most important prod Solzhenitsyn’ Gulag Archipeligo
• became a defender of free institutions and the entrepreneurially-driven market economy
• moved to Australia in 1975
• became Chief Economist for the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1980 where I then worked for 24 years, the same number of years Ludwig von Mises was the economist for the Austrian Chamber of Commerce from which I learned:

• the crucial importance of a policy focus – every issue becomes a question of not just what outcome do we want but more importantly what can be done to achieve our ends
• learned how patient you have to be to see your agenda prevail
• learned how hard it is to get things done
• deepened my distrust of large swathes of the left who are almost entirely self-interested and power driven – it seldom occurs to me that the political leaders of the left are interested in doing good for others which is generally only incidental to their true aims and is almost never achieved in any case
• learned how important defending our own is and the imperative of working together
• learned to appreciate the rare people with political skills who are also on my side of the political fence which also requires a fantastic amount of personal will to get things done – best examples in my lifetime Reagan, Thatcher and Trump

• politically I would best be characterised as a “Gladstonian liberal” which in today’s world makes me a free-market conservative
• economically the largest influence on my ideas has been John Stuart Mill and his Principles of Political Economy where amongst many other things I discovered the actual meaning of Say’s Law and not the fabricated nonsense that is near universal across the economics world today
• my particular area of study beyond economic theory itself is the History of Economic Thought – I have written the only book ever published on why HET needs to be studied by every economist
• a blogger for almost a decade mainly on Catallaxy while contributing to other publications on the right side of politics

About the book – why you should buy and read The Art of the Impossible:

• if you wanted Trump to win, or are even just happy that he did win, this is a wander through all of the most important moments that brought him to the presidency
• it is the first book ever published that is entirely made up of blog posts written at the time – it is entirely forward moving beginning with a discussion on Obama under the heading “Politics is what you can get away with”
• that the book is entirely comprised of blog posts is significant because:

• it tells a contemporary tale as it happened returning you to the moments themselves
• no post was written in the knowledge of hindsight – everything is discussed as it happened so that you can revisit the tensions of the time
• it is written by someone whose own personal political agenda was virtually identical to Trump’s – our overlap was 94%
• it helps explain why Trump became president
• it helps explain why we should be eternally grateful that Trump became president
• it shows how high the stakes were
• it shows that Hillary is right that Comey was the reason she lost but that Comey was acting under the instructions of Loretta Lynch who was herself acting under the instructions of Obama

• the book is part narrative, part excerpts from others writing at the time, part history and part political philosophy – it is told as it happens but as a 400-page volume the effect is as much philosophical as it is a reminder of the sequence of events and why you should be grateful things turned out this way.

June 6th is D(-for Donald) Day when Andrew Bolt will launch The Art of the Impossible

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A reminder: Andrew Bolt has very kindly agreed to launch my book, The Art of the Impossible, in Melbourne on June 6. The details of when and where are found both here and below.

Andrew and I are both bloggers and this book is the first blog history ever published. The book is entirely made up of the posts I wrote along the way to Donald Trump’s election, beginning in July 2016, when I heard him speak in public, right through to the day of the election on November 9, 2016, at least that was the day in Australia.

I will discuss what I think are the merits of the book and why you should read it. What Andrew will discuss we will know only on the day. So come along to hear his views and mine on Donald Trump, his election and his prospects. As it says at the link:

Join Tim Wilms from The Unshackled who will act as chair and moderator followed by two important speakers, Andrew Bolt from the Herald Sun and Steven Kates, author of The Art of the Impossible: A Blog History of the Election of Donald J. Trump as President. Both will discuss the topic of Dr Kates’ book, the lead up to the election of Donald Trump and what has happened since. Patrons can order themselves lunch at an affordable price while listening to the speakers discuss this very important topic. There will be also an opportunity to purchase The Art of the Impossible and have it signed after the event.

The launch is at 12:00 noon on Tuesday June 6. The venue:

Il Gambero
166 Lygon Street
Carlton, VIC 3053

You will also need to pre-purchase a ticket for the nominal price of $6.22 which you can use towards the purchase of the book.

And for good measure, you will also be able to buy copies of Economics for Infants on the day as well and even meet the artist.

Andrew Bolt to launch Art of the Impossible in Melbourne on June 6 @ 12:00 noon

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We’re only a few weeks into Donald Trump’s miracle tenure as president and the efforts by what has been called “the deep state” to bring his presidency to a premature end are evident at every turn. Andrew Bolt has very kindly agreed to launch my book, The Art of the Impossible, in Melbourne on June 6. The details of when and where are found here.

And as much as I think of the book as an important and valuable record of why and how Trump won the election, I now think of it as even more important as we try to keep our bearings in the face of the unprecedented manic and deceitful efforts by those who have been removed from the levers of power to overturn the result. Others are welcome to disagree, but to me this is a battle for the preservation of Western Civilisation against barbarous hordes of ignorant and dangerous fools, many of whom are already within the gates. This is what will be discussed on the day.

Andrew Bolt needs no introduction. I can only say how extraordinarily pleased and honoured I am that he has agreed to launch the book, which is a far cry from saying that he agrees with any or all of it. Come along on the day to hear his views and mine on Donald Trump, his election and his prospects. As it says at the link:

Join Tim Wilms from The Unshackled who will act as chair and moderator followed by two important speakers, Andrew Bolt from the Herald Sun and Steven Kates, author of The Art of the Impossible: A Blog History of the Election of Donald J. Trump as President. Both will discuss the topic of Dr Kates’ book, the lead up to the election of Donald Trump and what has happened since. Patrons can order themselves lunch at an affordable price while listening to the speakers discuss a very important and enjoyable topic. There will be also an opportunity to purchase The Art of the Impossible and have it signed after the event.

The launch is on Tuesday June 6 from 12:00 noon – 1:45. The venue:

Il Gambero
166 Lygon Street
Carlton, VIC 3053

You will also need to pre-purchase a ticket for the nominal price of $6.22 which you can use towards the purchase of the book.

And for good measure, you will also be able to buy copies of Economics for Infants on the day as well.

Facing tons of backlash

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Here’s the headline: BREAKING: Clint Eastwood Makes TRAGIC Announcement – Fans Devastated. This is what he’s done.

In the liberal world of Hollywood, it’s rare to find any celebrity who is brave enough to defy the mainstream media’s pro-Muslim agenda. That’s why liberals are furious with director Clint Eastwood this week after he announced that his next film will not be submitting to their ridiculous demands.

Eastwood is reportedly facing tons of backlash after it was announced that his next film will focus on the terror attack that occurred on a French Train in August of 2015. The legendary director plans to use the film as a tribute to the three brave men who stopped the attack and took the terrorist down.

Americans Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Briton Chris Norman were on a train from Brussels to Paris when a terrorist entered a bathroom and came out with an AK47. The three men immediately jumped to action, risking their lives to take the terrorist down before he could kill anyone.

Eastwood believes that this is a story that needs to be told, but liberals are livid that the film would portray a Muslim in a negative light. SHARE this story if you support Eastwood and his latest film!

It will make millions, but can such a film any longer be made anywhere in the world? We shall see. I might add that even though they published the story they were obviously unwilling to say out loud in their headline what the story is about. You might also, with good reason, accuse me of the same.