4. Several Special Points

The clear explanation provided by Mises of the nature of money and inflation has served me well in defending a hard money system. Understanding the subjective theory of value has been most helpful to me personally in understanding all the contradictions pressed by the establishment economists, but it does not lend itself to popular expression on the House floor. In contrast, the truth about money and inflation, and how inflation benefits the politicians and special interests, and serves as a hidden tax, is much easier to present in ordinary language.

Understanding the concept of “time preference” in explaining and defending profits and interest is not practical in general debate, but it is useful in providing the information to show that the liberal welfarists and socialists are absurd in their contentions that working people are injured by a free-market economy.

In a similar way, Mises’s refutation of the Marxian theory of the inevitability of class struggle is beneficial for reassurance but not useful practically, since those who are in charge in Congress neither understand nor care to understand something they would consider esoteric. Nevertheless, it is important for a defender of capitalism to understand the Austrian explanation that capitalism ends class struggle, builds a huge middle class, and raises the standard of living of everyone. The specific choices of consumers become key in a free market—which can exist only in a nation that has a high regard for individual liberty. Although the politicians in Washington refuse to think in these terms, the fact is that positive change will only come when our intellectual leaders accept the importance of concepts like time preference, the nature of class conflicts, and subjective valuations. When the Austrian view becomes commonly accepted, capitalism will result from a political order that holds individual liberty in high esteem.