• Handed out about 100 half page fliers with one side information about Rothbard’s The Case Against the Fed and the other Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson. Photos of the book cover, description and links to online versions and audio books. People snatched them up real quick. One woman was a freegan. She told me she doesn’t buy books to save trees, has a computer or at least access to one, no digital audio player, but yet still took everyone’s fliers… including mine.
• Almost every person their was anti-capitalist. Everything I heard told me they were in fact anti-corporatist. As you see in the footage they, like many on the left, incorrectly label what currently exists in the Western world as capitalist.
• I spoke with an employee of Revolution Books who was a Marxist. He believed in the end goal of stateless communism but said a state was needed to get there. Seems a bit contradictory to me. He didn’t like when I asked if he was a statist as he reminded me that communism doesn’t have a state. I tried to explain to him that it was incorrect to call what the USA economy is as capitalist and that if he was non-violent he would find allies in the anarcho-capitalist camp. He wasn’t familiar with Rothbard or ALL which I found unfortunate but he was receptive to learning about them. I’ll be sending him some links.
• I ran into Chris Maloney. He’s written some articles on Mises.org and LewRockwell.com.
• Explained to a young 20 something y/o woman who had shown up to find out more about what was going on. I explained to her how the Federal Reserve works, how it causes the boom bust cycle and what’s generally going on now.
• They had an open mic and I was real close to taking advantage of it and explaining what capitalism really is and some better reasons to oppose the bailout and the Federal Reserve instead of just complaining about which people gets the stolen goods. I decided that was likely a bad idea.
• Someone gave me an article entitled “No to the Bailout of the Capitalist Speculators! Down with the Dictatorship of Finance Capital!” by The Internationalist. Last I check it wasn’t available on their site. It’s interesting because it has some things I wouldn’t have expected to read such as noting that since 1971 the US dollar is no longer backed by gold. They call out the Socialist Equality party for not being hardcore enough effectively and the Green and Working Families as being “capitalist” parties. The article speaks of the Austrian (not the school but the country) economist Joseph Schumpeter. “Free-market ideologues like to quote the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter on the ‘creative destruction‘ unleashed by capitalism on outmoded economic structures. But today, as the wages and living standards of the working people are being steadily eroded, as social programs are drastically slashed, there is nothing creative a bout the destruction unleashed by the wold-be masters of the universe.” The authors really need to recheck what Schumpeter was speaking about, get an understanding as to why the standard of living is being eroded, and acknowledge the fact that what they complain about is in no way, shape or form a free market. Actually… the author and those protesting need to realize that these banks are more regulated than just about any other time period in history and this situation still developed. Regulation is not the answer, removing government control over the money supply is.
• There were lots of Obama buttons around. It was rather entertaining to see hardcore socialist 1 argue with hardcore socialist 2 over how the Democrats and Obama are the enemies of their cause. I, walking around with my Ron Paul, “Taxation is Theft”, “I do not consent to be searched”, etc. pins, found that many people knew of Paul and had generally good things to say in the few words exchanged.
• I was yelled at at one point for moving due to several people with cameras who were filming the back of my bookbag which has a Ron Paul civil flag patch and a “Ron Paul 2008″, Paul and V mask, and 4th Amendment pins. I usually have a gadsden flag like “Don’t tread on me” patch and more pins but I took some off for the Service Nation Summit and have yet to put them back.
• Not directly related but a coworker is leaving my firm Friday and so we went out to lunch. During which I got to pretty much fully explain the full Austrian School of economics’s position on what’s going on. Needless to say several of my coworkers who I don’t typically talk with were fascinated. They didn’t seem to trust a transition to a commodities based system… giving me “what about the guy who chooses the wrong commodity? do you really want people bothered with deciding on a common currency?” type arguments. They also has hangups on acknowledging or accepting the inherent harm central banks cause and underestimated the influence artificially cheap debt has.

Update: CNN’s coverage of the event, some photos

So why did I choose the wrong rally? From LewRockwell.com/blog:

Writes Jim Sheehan: “I just walked by the New York Stock Exchange. Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered to protest the government’s bailout of Wall Street. Several were holding placards that read ‘Stop the bailout! Read The Road to Serfdom by FA Hayek. Read mises.org.’ They were also handing out copies of Ron Paul’s 2002 speech introducing his bill to eliminate subsidies to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Keep up the good work!”

I’m not sure where this was advertised but the NYC Campaign for Liberty Meetup.com event listed the Bowling Green but I didn’t notice anyone familiar when I showed up at 4PM. Oh well. Hopefully some of those who I handed info to will actually read one of the suggested books. If it’s one thing many of those lefties need is an overview of economic theory.

http://www.concordmonitor.com/…

Ron Paul won the support of about half of the undecided voters gathered in a Manchester house yesterday, when he spoke about how he could save hundreds of millions of dollars by scaling back America’s overseas empire. But many left with concerns that Paul lacked the leadership ability necessary to work with Congress.

“How could anybody vote for somebody who could not describe one buck-stops-here leadership step?” she [Christina McKinley of Nashua] said. Earlier, she had asked Paul what experiences had taught him to lead.

“I don’t care how many wonderful ideas you have,” she said. “If he had demonstrable leadership experience, the door would have been kept open for me.”

Several audience members raised concerns that Paul sounded like an isolationist. Ken Murray asked Paul how involved America should be in the world, and was satisfied with his answer.

“He proposed open relations with all countries,” Murray said. “I wanted to hear that, so we weren’t walled off.”

But Murray was among those who remained undecided. Both Paul and Romney acted and looked presidential, he said. After Paul’s hour-long discussion, Murray would say only that he was “more inclined” to lean toward Paul. Sean Doherty, of Bedford, decided yesterday that he would support Paul over John McCain. He said that he had reservations, though, because he did not expect the Republican establishment to back Paul if he rose in the polls.

“I don’t think they’d support him,” he said. “I think they would depth-charge him.”

Across the room, Jim Sheehan seemed to symbolize Murray’s concern. Sheehan said that Paul was correct that we were headed for a financial collapse, but that he did not offer practical solutions.

“I believe in his ideas. I just think that they are not viable,” he said. “We have gone down the path too far to change, unless we have a total economic collapse. Then bring in Ron Paul.”

I’ll give McKinley that Paul doesn’t have a lot of leadership experience but how does one evaluate someone’s leadership ability? Does being the head of a successful business translate to being a successful president? Plenty of our presidents where from legislative positions. What would be considered leadership in those professions? Usually you get to well known positions through compromise of your principles. Right now that’s not really what we need. We need a strong direction for the executive branch toward stability and reasonable expenditures and let the Congress fight out the details to get there. Leadership is telling people how it is. Working with them to deal with the hardships that are coming down the road instead of ignoring them like just about everyone else does.

Then you have the complaints about the GOP not backing Paul. Well what would they do if he rose in the polls? Start backing the Democratic candidate? Create a new party? Not likely. If Paul does well than they will back him. People gravitate toward the winner (or perceived winner). Even if they do it grudgingly at first.

And for his ideas no being viable till after “total economic collapse.” Is this guy a sadist? I would rather try to stop the meltdown even if it hurts because prolonging the inevitable rarely results in less damage. We need to face facts and start working toward fixing these problems or else we are all going to be in deep shit and history shows those times usually result in larger government not smaller.