Commanding Heights Part 1 Reflection
Commanding Heights Reflection
My initial thought to this video was “What am I supposed to be learning?” As time went on I finally came to realize that there were three main points; socialism, Keynes versus Hayek and right wing versus left wing. To begin with I didn’t really understand what the concept socialism compared to capitalism or communism meant. Now I can say that socialism is basically when the government regulates the economy compared to communism which is a bit more liberal but still similar. I also learned that capitalism and socialism are complete opposites because capitalism is where the government leaves the economy up to the people to control. My first reaction to the video was that it was pro Keynes because throughout the first hour it only seemed to talk about how Hayek kept failing. They mentioned that around the 1920’s there was a classic stock market bubble which led to prices plunging and left people with no ability to earn, pay, and spend money. Keynes believed that the economy needed more government interaction and control; this was exactly what happened. The government ended up making things worse which left 15 billion people unemployed. At the beginning of the video it mentioned mostly Keynes and how he became the most influential economists. He gave people hope that unemployment could be cured without concentration camps. At the time of the Second World War his thoughts became a policy stating “What worked in war would work in peace.” At this time he was proved right but later we found out that Hayek was right all along. While Keynes was getting all the attention Hayek believed that too much government planning meant too much government power which destroyed freedom creating slaves. Through most of the 20th century Hayek was on the losing side of the battle of ideas mostly because he was against macroeconomics and any government intervention. Even after Keynes’ death he was still very influential. For 30 glorious years Keynesian
My initial thought to this video was “What am I supposed to be learning?” As time went on I finally came to realize that there were three main points; socialism, Keynes versus Hayek and right wing versus left wing. To begin with I didn’t really understand what the concept socialism compared to capitalism or communism meant. Now I can say that socialism is basically when the government regulates the economy compared to communism which is a bit more liberal but still similar. I also learned that capitalism and socialism are complete opposites because capitalism is where the government leaves the economy up to the people to control. My first reaction to the video was that it was pro Keynes because throughout the first hour it only seemed to talk about how Hayek kept failing. They mentioned that around the 1920’s there was a classic stock market bubble which led to prices plunging and left people with no ability to earn, pay, and spend money. Keynes believed that the economy needed more government interaction and control; this was exactly what happened. The government ended up making things worse which left 15 billion people unemployed. At the beginning of the video it mentioned mostly Keynes and how he became the most influential economists. He gave people hope that unemployment could be cured without concentration camps. At the time of the Second World War his thoughts became a policy stating “What worked in war would work in peace.” At this time he was proved right but later we found out that Hayek was right all along. While Keynes was getting all the attention Hayek believed that too much government planning meant too much government power which destroyed freedom creating slaves. Through most of the 20th century Hayek was on the losing side of the battle of ideas mostly because he was against macroeconomics and any government intervention. Even after Keynes’ death he was still very influential. For 30 glorious years Keynesian