"Mises was born in 1881 in my hometown of Lvov, in what is now Ukraine. He emigrated from Eastern Europe to New York in 1940 and became perhaps the most thoroughgoing American defender of laissez-faire capitalism. Years later Milton Friedman would recount a story about the first meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society, held in 1947. The group was meant to bring together what Europeans would call liberal intellectuals and what Americans would describe as libertarians. As Friedman recalled, âWe were discussing the distribution of income, and whether you should have progressive income taxes. Some of the people there were expressing the view that there could be a justification for it.â Furiously and famously, Mises declared, âYouâre all a bunch of socialists!â and stormed out. Much like Rand with rent control, Mises felt that once income distribution is on the table, the jig is basically up. It simply becomes a matter of haggling over how much socialism there is."
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Academics from the United StatesAcademics from AustriaEconomists from the United StatesLudwig von MisesAustrian School economists
Original Language: English
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Sources
Michael Malice, The New Right: A Journey into the Fringe of American Politics (2019)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Mises
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Ludwig von Mises
1881 â 1973
österreichisch-amerikanischer Volkswirtschaftler
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