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142 sats \ 3 replies \ @kepford 14 Oct \ on: "The Public Be Damned" econ
Isn't it wild how our US culture damns the capitalists that built this country and praises the political figures that abused power? Not to say either were all good or all bad but man is the standard line on this stuff so dumb.
The common modern man assumes a capitalist only cares about the dollar. But since he can't just steal that dollar he must figure out a way to satisfy a need of the common man. The politician signals virtue and makes bold promises. He has very little skin in the game. He produces no good or service except patronage. He must take money from one person to serve another. Not voluntarily but by force of "law".
While both men could be evil or good. The incentives are clearly different.
I guess I'm a fool. The naivety of common man still surprises me. Flowery words still work on so many people.
Somehow, despite hundreds of years trying to explain the concept, the idea of mutually beneficial exchange hasn't sunk in.
Most people still view everything through an adversarial lens.
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'Adam Smith famously declared that ‘People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the publick, or in some contrivance to raise prices’. Although Smith’s hostility to the merchants and the mercantile system is well known, what has not hitherto been appreciated is the full extent to which Smith believed such a ‘conspiracy’ to obtain, how he believed that it came about, and why it would likely prove highly resistant to effective political control.'
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