Remembering Ludwig von Mises on his 132nd Birthday

September 29, 2013 will mark the 132nd birthday of my mentor (via his works) and inspiration Ludwig von Mises. 

It has been through the works of Mr. von Mises and the Austrian school of economics who opened my eyes to reality or the truth amidst a world seemingly lobotomized of reason and a world seemingly governed by deception, manipulation, indoctrination, repression, oppression and untruths.

It is interesting to know that Nazi Germany even hunted down Mr. von Mises as his trenchant tirades against inflation and interventionism meant that "both fascists and communists hated him" according to Austrian economist Dr. Richard Ebeling.

Mr. von Mises, narrowly escaped the Gestapo dragnet in Vienna during the German occupation by fleeing to Switzerland. Nonetheless volumes of Mr. Mises work had been captured but luckily enough had not been destroyed and had been recovered in a Moscow archive 1996—decades after the Soviets “liberated” Bohemia.  

The Huffington Post writes of the recovery of the treasure troves of Dr. von Mises work here.

Read Ludwig von Mises’ biography here.

Here is a compilation of Mr. von Mises works at the Mises Institute.

My tribute to Mr. Mises ends with this excerpt from his magnum opus, Human Action (p.239)

Theism and Deism of the Age of Enlightenment viewed the regularity of natural phenomena as an emanation of the decrees of Providence. When the philosophers of the Enlightenment discovered that there prevails a regularity of phenomena also in human action and in social evolution, they were prepared to interpret it likewise as evidence of the paternal care of the Creator of the universe. This was the true meaning of the doctrine of the predetermined harmony as expounded by some economists. The social philosophy of paternal despotism laid stress upon the divine mission of kings and autocrats predestined to rule the peoples. The liberal retorted that the operation of an unhampered market, on which the consumer—i.e., every citizen—is sovereign, brings about more satisfactory results than the decrees of anointed rulers. Observe the functioning of the market system, they said, and you will discover in it too the finger of God