Hayek: Freedom's Philosopher - Fighting The Planners

A short history of the life and work of Friedrich Hayek.
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The Road to Serfdom in Cartoons

The Road to Serfdom is a book written in the 1940s by Friedrich Hayek (recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1974). Look Magazine made a comic strip of the book which has been converted to a short film. Dedicated to "the socialists of all parties", Hayek’s central thesis is that all forms of collectivism lead logically and inevitably to tyranny, and he used the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany as examples of countries which, in his view, had gone down “the road to serfdom” and reached tyranny. Hayek argued that within a centrally planned economic system the distribution and allocation of all resources and goods would devolve onto a small group which would be incapable of processing all the information pertinent to the appropriate distribution of the resources and goods at the central planners’ disposal. Disagreement about the practical implementation of any economic plan combined with the inadequacy of the central planners’ resource management would invariably necessitate coercion in order for anything to be achieved. Hayek further argued that the failure of central planning would be perceived by the public as an absence of sufficient power by the state to implement an otherwise good idea. Such a perception would lead the public to vote more power to the state, and would assist the rise to power of a “strong man” perceived to be capable of “getting the job done”. After these developments Hayek argued that a country would be ineluctably driven into outright totalitarianism. For Hayek “the road to serfdom” inadvertently set upon by central planning, with its dismantling of the free market system, ends in the destruction of all individual economic and personal freedom.
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The Illustrated Road to Serfdom A Condensed and Abridged version of The Road to Serfdom The Road to Serfdom @ Wikipedia

Commanding Heights: The Battle For the World Economy

The history and impact of the new global economy are made clear--and compelling--in Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy. This three-part, six-hour documentary does an astonishingly thorough job of dissecting and explaining macroeconomics and their current political and social importance without ever causing a loss of consciousness for the viewer. Part 1, The Battle of Ideas, chronicles the history of economic thought from the start of the 20th century and its socialist reforms right through the deregulation of the 1980s. Part 2, The Agony of Reform, explores the upheavals that such deregulation caused, focusing primarily on economic growth and gains and touching briefly on the wrenching consequences for the poor. Part 3, The New Rules of the Game, explores the consequences of globalization, including terrorism and the contagion of market collapse. The series makes good use of both large-and small-scale examples, and features interviews with several major world leaders. Big ideas are made extremely accessible to the average viewer (without condescension). Well worth watching.
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More Info CHAPTER LIST EPISODE 1: THE BATTLE OF IDEAS Chapter 1: Prologue Chapter 2: The First Era of Globalization, Keynes and Hayek Chapter 3: Communism on the Heights Chapter 4: A Capitalist Collapse Chapter 5: Global Depression Chapter 6: Worldwide War Chapter 7: Planning the Peace Chapter 8: Democracy and Free Markets, enter Milton Friedman Chapter 9: Germany's Bold Move Chapter 10: India's Way, The Science of Central Planning Chapter 11: Chicago Against the Tide Chapter 12: Stagflation, Richard Nixon, Price Controls Chapter 13: A Mixed Economy Flounders, Thatcher and Hayek Chapter 14: Deregulation Takes Off, Airlines and Sandwiches Chapter 15: Thatcher Takes the Helm Chapter 16: Reagan Rides In Chapter 17: War in the South Atlantic Chapter 18: The Heights Go Up for Sale Chapter 19: The Battle Decided? EPISODE 2: THE AGONY OF REFORM Chapter 1: Prologue Chapter 2: The essence of Soviet Power, Socialism's Influence Chapter 3: Behind the Iron Faτade, no water, no fire, no incentives Chapter 4: India's Permit Raj, Hindustan vs. Toyota Chapter 5: Latin American Dependencia Chapter 6: Counterrevolution in Chile, Salvador Allende Assasinated Chapter 7: Chicago Boys and Pinochet Chapter 8: Heresy in the USSR Chapter 9: Poland's Solidarity Chapter 10: Bolivia at the Brink Chapter 11: Shock Therapy Applied Chapter 12: The Miracle Year in Poland Chapter 13: Poland in Transition Chapter 14: Gorbachev Tries China Chapter 15: Soviet Free Fall Chapter 16: Reform Goes Awry Chapter 17: India Escapes Collapse Chapter 18: Russia Tries to Privatize Chapter 19: Loans For Shares Chapter 20: Closing the Deal Chapter 21: A Decade of Radical Change EPISODE 3: THE NEW RULES OF THE GAME Chapter 1: Prologue Chapter 2: The Global Idea Chapter 3: NAFTA: The First Test Chapter 4: Crossing Borders, Mexico Chapter 5: The Global Market Chapter 6: Emerging Market Hunters Chapter 7: Averting a Meltdown: 1994 Chapter 8: The Global Village Chapter 9: China and the Tigers Chapter 10: The Japanese Paradox Chapter 11: Global Contagion Begins Chapter 12: Contagion Engulfs Asia, Indonesia Implodes Chapter 13: Russia Defaults Chapter 14: The Crisis Reaches America, LTCM Chapter 15: Anti-Globalization Movement Chapter 16: The Streets of Seattle, Free-trade Double Standard Chapter 17: Failure at the Summit, The World Bank Under Attack Chapter 18: The Global Divide, Poverty Chapter 19: Capitalism Redefined Chapter 20: The Bottom End of Globalism Chapter 21: Changing of the Guard Chapter 22: The Battle Resumed, Quebec City 2001, Protests Chapter 23: After 9/11 CAST BILL CLINTON, President of the United States of America, 1993-2001 VICENTE FOX, President of Mexico RICHARD CHENEY, Vice President of the United States of America JEFFREY SACHS, Director, Columbia University Earth Institute MILTON FRIEDMAN, Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago GEORGE SHULTZ, U.S. Secretary of State, 1982-1989 LARRY LINDSEY, Assistant to the U.S. President for Economic Policy, 2001-2002 LAWRENCE SUMMERS, President of Harvard University; U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, 1999-2001 ROBERT RUBIN, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, 1995-1999 PAUL VOLCKER, Chairman, Federal Reserve Board, 1979-1987 HERNANDO DE SOTO, Economist; Founder and Director, Institute for Liberty and Democracy, Peru RICHARD GEPHARDT, Democratic Leader, U.S. House of Representatives, 1989-2002 NEWT GINGRICH, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1995-1999 MARK MOBIUS, President, Templeton Emerging Markets MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, General Secretary, Communist Party, USSR, 1985-1991 ANATOLY CHUBAIS, First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, 1994-1996 VLADIMIR POTANIN, President, Interros Holding Company GRIGORY YAVLINSKY, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, 1990 YEGOR GAIDAR, Acting Prime Minister of Russia, 1992 LEE KUAN YEW, Senior Minister of Singapore DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD, Prime Minister of Malaysia GONZALO SANCHEZ DE LOZADA, President of Bolivia, 1993-1997, 2002-2003 MANMOHAN SINGH, Finance Minister of India, 1991-1996 THEA LEE, Assistant Director for International Economics, AFL-CIO LORD KENNETH BAKER, Conservative Party Minister of British Parliament, 1981-1992 LESZEK BALCEROWICZ, Deputy Prime Minister of Finance of Poland, 1989-1991 TONY BENN, Labor Party Minister of British Parliament, 1950-2001 GORDON BROWN, Labor Party Finance Minister (Chancellor of the Exchequer) KEN CAPSTICK, Former Chairman, Yorkshire National Union of Mineworkers JORGE CASTANEDA, Foreign Minister of Mexico, 2001-2003 JON CORZINE, First Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, 1994-2001 ALEJANDRO FOXLEY, Finance Minister of Chile, 1990-1994 JOSEPH STIGLITZ, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, The World Bank,1997-2000 LECH WALESA, President of Poland, 1990-1995 et al.