George Reisman Profile picture
Pepperdine University Professor Emeritus of Economics; Author, Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics https://t.co/eAgLyCOvfQ

Oct 2, 2020, 7 tweets

The purpose of my life is my own happiness. It is not to serve as a conscript in anyone’s cockamamie scheme to “bend a curve,” hold back the seas, or hold down the mean temperature of the globe.

That is government central planning, which violates my individual right to plan and pursue my own goals, i.e., my right to the pursuit of my own happiness.

I, and everyone else, engages in individual economic planning that is aimed at making us happier, which often means, making us richer. Our individual plans are harmonized, coordinated, and integrated by the price system. (See chaps. 6-8 of my Capitalism for details.)

The government, in contrast, cannot rationally plan. It can only restrict or prohibit the planning of individuals, ultimately leaving planning as the monopoly of inept government officials.

The results of government “planning” are as absurd as attempting to protect people from excessive heat by denying them the ability to use air conditioning and refrigeration, because the government’s plan to restrict global CO2 emissions has made electricity unavailable.

If all this were understood, perhaps there would be “peaceful demonstrations” at such places as the headquarters of environmentalist organizations and pro-environmentalist media, to call these grievances to the attention of the world.

This tweet-thread appears as a blogpost at georgereismansblog.blogspot.com/2020/10/i-refu…. Its title there is “I Refuse to Serve as a Conscript in Anyone’s Global Plan.”

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