The Road to Serfdom

Lots of talk lately about the Keynes way of running the economy. Keynesian economics means the government pays for everything rather than capitalism reigning or a free market. If I understand it correctly, the whole philosophy of Keynes was that government spending is a good thing (such as the stimulus), regardless of how much money it costs the taxpayer to foot the bill. John Stossel breaks down why government spending is such a bad idea in the way that it controls the lives of citizens. It means the government ends up reaching into every aspect of our lives: health care, food choices, lifestyle choices, what they teach our children (for the GOOD of the collective). Read it here:

Hayek meant that governments can't plan economies without planning people's lives. After all, an economy is just individuals engaging in exchanges. The scientific-sounding language of President Obama's economic planning hides the fact that people must shelve their own plans in favor of government's single plan.

At the beginning of "The Road to Serfdom," Hayek acknowledges that mere material wealth is not all that's at stake when the government controls our lives: "The most important change ... is a psychological change, an alteration in the character of the people."