The Road to Serfdom

F.A.  Hayek was one of the 20^th century’s great proponents of free-market capitalism.  He never hesitated to weigh in against socialist and collectivist thought.  His book The Road to Serfdom sums up his reasoning against socialism and any first steps toward any collectivist programs.

For his work, Hayek was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1974, back when Nobel Prizes really meant something.  (Now, unfortunately, Nobel Prizes are dispensed politically.  Think Barack Obama, Al Gore and Paul Krugman.)

Hayek is best known for The Road of Serfdom, a bestseller in 1944 and again last year when Glen Beck discussed it on his daily Fox Network political commentary show.

The truths discussed by Hayek in The Road to Serfdom have long been lost by most people, and it’s not without reason.  Ken Gerbino, long-time investment adviser and hedge fund manager, says that loss was not by accident.

Gerbino recently wrote in Predictions for 2011: Gold, Silver and the Economy:

One of the great problems in the world is that solid economic truths, concepts and, therefore, advice has been hard to come by as the field is littered with so many “experts” that have bought into illogical and indefensible theories and lies. Many of these “experts” have attained high places at universities, news outlets or banking institutions. From these lofty and exposed pulpits they have influenced the power structure and establishment institutions in most countries with their unproven and false theories.Basically, people have been – and are – inundated with fallacious economic concepts, from their college days to today’s institutions that should be – but are not – reliable sources of information.  Gerbino goes on to say:

Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman has said that the greatest economist that ever lived was F.A. Hayek. George Orwell was inspired to write his classic book, 1984, after reading Hayek’s great work The Road to Serfdom.

Hayek was without doubt one of the great thinkers of our age. Many years ago I took a film crew to Germany and interviewed him. The interview has been turned into a documentary and is being entered into various film festivals around the world. This is the only interview in his career where he answered very controversial and politically sensitive questions.

His answers to these questions and his discussions of two dozen subjects pertaining to economics and politics very much relate to the investment climate today. This documentary, I believe, will be hailed as one of the greatest dissertations on economics ever recorded. Without using any big words and with brilliant clarity, the best of F.A. Hayek in a never before seen 60 minute interview is now available.

The film is called The Hayek Prophecies and can be viewed at www.thehayekprophecies.com

In my opinion this is the most important one hour you will ever spend to learn from the greatest political-economic thinker of the modern era.I agree with Gerbino.  In this political climate, an hour listening to F.A. Hayek’s brilliant insight into the world of economics and politics, and how they mix, will prepare you for the programs coming out of Washington.  Listening to Hayek also will arm you with arguments against those collectivist programs.  Do not ever be sucked into believing that government has any solutions.  As Ronald Reagan said, “The government is the problem.”

The Road to Serfdom can be bought at Mises.org.  (On Amazon, I found only expensive collectors’ copies of the first edition.)   Now, listen to The Hayek Prophecies and get yourself a copy of The Road to Serfdom.  Then, astound your friends with your knowledge as to why the collectivist/socialist programs coming out of Washington will not solve the nation’s problems but will make things worse.