Elon Musk—via his DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency)—exposing and attempting to cut government waste is wonderful. However, it’d be even better if Elon focused more on striking closer to the root of the problem: the public’s economic ignorance from which all the disastrous, coercive, competition-immune, monopolistic government central planning, spending, and also warmongering grows. This is precisely what Ludwig von Mises did, and I like to call it the “Misesian formula” for prosperity. Mises devoted parts of his majestic treatise Human Action (1949) to the formula. In a section aptly titled “Economics and the Citizen,” Mises writes:
Economics must not be relegated to classrooms and statistical offices and must not be left to esoteric circles. It is the philosophy of human life and action and concerns everybody and everything. It is the pith of civilization and of man’s human existence….
All present-day political issues concern problems commonly called economic. All arguments advanced in contemporary discussion of social and public affairs deal with fundamental matters of…economics. Everybody’s mind is preoccupied with economic doctrines…. Everybody thinks of economics whether he is aware of it or not. In joining a political party and in casting his ballot, the citizen implicitly takes a stand upon essential economic theories….
As conditions are today, nothing can be more important to every intelligent man than economics. His own fate and that of his progeny is at stake….
…all reasonable men are called upon to familiarize themselves with the teachings of economics. This is, in our age, the primary civic duty.
Whether we like it or not, it is a fact that economics cannot remain an esoteric branch of knowledge accessible only to small groups of scholars and specialists. Economics deals with society’s fundamental problems; it concerns everyone and belongs to all. It is the main and proper study of every citizen.
In other words, we must believe that we can educate “the immense majority,” and thus act accordingly, even if it proves to be futile, otherwise “there is no hope left for mankind’s future.” Mises concludes Human Action:
The body of economic knowledge is an essential element in the structure of human civilization; it is the foundation upon which modern industrialism and all the moral, intellectual, technological, and therapeutical achievements of the last centuries have been built. It rests with men whether they will make the proper use of the rich treasure with which this knowledge provides them or whether they will leave it unused. But if they fail to take the best advantage of it and disregard its teachings and warnings, they will not annul economics; they will stamp out society and the human race.
Understanding economics for the common man is of the utmost importance if society is to survive. When we promulgate attacks through deceptive practices and outright lies, we will destroy society and any cooperation and trust. The only reason THEY are doing this is to protect THEIR privilege, power, pelf and wealth. THEY are saying FU to the rest of us. By learning economics (Austrian economics, specifically) we learn how to counter THEIR egregious selfishness and self-aggrandizement. You can see how this is working, so far, in Argentina. What do you think is going on there?