CNE Monatsmagazin Digest
April 2005

English Summary

International and national socialism: "We should all welcome recent debate in Europe on outlawing communist and Nazis symbols. It is irrelevant to argue about whether communists or nazis killed more people and imposed more sufferings. They both did a lot", says Steve Pejovich, Emeritus Professor of Texas A&M University. "It is also important to identify those movements as two practical applications of socialist doctrines. The basic premise of socialist literature is that the institutions of socialism are capable of bringing about a "just" society. This premise has provided both the philosophical foundation and the political justification for the practitioners of socialism to replace the rule of law and individual liberties with the rule of men (the arbitrary state) and a contrived concern for the "people", Pejovich goes on.

National socialism: "Götz Aly, Guest Professor at the Frankfurt based Fritz Bauer Institute, discloses the much neglected seductive side of national-socialism in his new book Hitlers Volksstaat. Raub, Rassenkrieg und nationaler Sozialismus (The social state and its egalitarian redistributive machinery in economic and fiscal policy of the national socialists), concludes Michael Kastner in his review. "The Germans made a fixed deal with the redistributive state of the Nazis. That is Aly's main thesis", says Kastner.

Against historical misrepresentation: The last two years, German philosopher Gerard Radnitzky wrote his memoir, which are to be published soon by Herbig. "Against historical misrepresentation - Memories and reflections of a political incorrect" is the title of his autobiography. "My memoirs will be politically incorrect, in detail and in total. He who wants to source something has to swim against the current. This is the only way to free oneself from the enacted historical amnesia", concludes Radnitzky in his introductory chapter.

Criticón: Gunnar Sohn and Ansgar Lange of the libertarian magazine Criticón share insights about their work with the CNE Monatsmagazin. Never bore your audience, is their golden rule. "Lachrymose prose and theoretisation are a nightmare to me … Publicists devoted to libertarian thinking should not polish their theories and treatises. Wit, actuality, satire, provocation, exclusivity: there are many means to help libertarian thought to get an outreach. Moreover, liberal publicists should research more seriously and turn stronger to investigative journalism", says Sohn.

Saving Pfennige, Costing Lives: As Cato Senior Fellow Doug Bandow points out in his WSJE article: "Health care is expensive, but inadequate treatment is even more expensive. For years much of the world has been a free rider on U.S. medical R&D. Most industrialized states rely on a mix of price and volume controls to limit pharmaceutical spending. Germany's newly tightened therapeutical reference-pricing program is an unfortunate example." Berlin exempts innovative products from reference pricing - in theory. Sortis, for instance, is being bundled with generic statins. "The other medicines work, but studies indicate that Sortis works better -- reduces cholesterol more with fewer side-effects. Yet GemBa refused to delay implementation of the reference pricing for statins", says Bandow. "Governments, like individuals, often are penny-wise and pound-foolish. But the cost of scrimping when it comes to medicine can be extraordinarily high. Germany and other OECD states should stop free-riding off of American pharmaceutical R&D and start paying reasonable prices for valuable products."

Click here to view the full Monatsmagazin in German.

Dr. Hardy Bouillon is Head of Academic Affairs at the Centre for the New Europe.