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A Communist View on Adam Smith, economist to the Founders

Discussion in 'Economics and Financials' started by padre31, Jul 23, 2011.

  1. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    [video=youtube;6R55seHpqxk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R55seHpqxk&feature=relmfu[/video]

    This is interesting as well, he is correct in most of what he is saying in that Adam Smith the "economist of the founding fathers" was not the "free market!" advocate that he is thought to be, quite the opposite, he favored tariffs to support the growth of domestic industries.

    One has to wonder if, in the faux veneration, any talk of "returning to constitutional principles" would include that as well?
     
  2. adamprez2003

    adamprez2003 Senior Member

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    he's a bit of a stiff but its a good point nontheless

    "The interest of dealers, however,... is a always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public... The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes frm this order ought... never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it."
    -- Adam Smith, Wealth Of Nations

    "In a society of an hundred thousand families, there will perhaps be one hundred who don't labour at all, and who yet, either by violence, or by the more orderly oppression of law, employ a greater part of the labour of society than any other ten thousand in it. The division of what remains, too, after this enormous defalcation, is by no means made in proportion to the labour of each individual. On the contrary those who labour most get least. The opulent merchant, who spends a great part of his time in luxury and entertainments, enjoys a much greater proportion of the profits of his traffic, than all the Clerks and Accountants who do the business. These last, again, enjoying a great deal of leisure, and suffering scarce any other hardship besides the confinement of attendance, enjoy a much greater share of the produce, than three times an equal number of artizans, who, under their direction, labour much more severely and assiduously. The artizan again, tho' he works generally under cover, protected from the injuries of the weather, at his ease and assisted by the convenience of innumerable machines, enjoys a much greater share than the poor labourer who has the soil and the seasons to struggle with, and, who while he affords the materials for supplying the luxury of all the other members of the common wealth, and bears, as it were, upon his shoulders the whole fabric of human society, seems himself to be buried out of sight in the lowest foundations of the building."
     
  3. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Well, as long as the thrust of his thought, the point remains the same without a google search for Adam Smith's writings apparently pro or con as figures in that era were typically verbose and productive authors.

    The larger point to me is with the en vogue veneration for the Founding Era whether or not those who espouse the Founders writings are also as willing to concede that the Economist of the Revolution was not a Globalist in any sense of the term, quite the opposite.
     
  4. adamprez2003

    adamprez2003 Senior Member

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    oh i was referring to the guy on youtube not adam smith. he makes a good point however about the corruption of ideas. i am a huge fan of the von mises institute and believe they are also mischaracterized often. guess its the way of the world. i think adam smith understood that free markets are the best form but must be watched vigilantly. the neocons came in and destroyed that too mean just free markets.
     
  5. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Ah, one was thinking of "the Von Mises Institute" vid?

    Well, I've read some of their stuff and try to make LewRockwell a daily read, do not agree with several of their premises.
     
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