Posted on 06/27/2010 9:37:35 AM PDT by guyshomenet
One book worth reading is P.J. O’Rourke’s review of Smith’s Wealth of Nations. O’Rourke read the entire multi-volume set so “you wouldn’t have to,” for which I owe P.J. an eternal debt. I suspect ingesting a few thousand pages of 18th century Scottish text on moral, economic and political theory is closest one can come to a lobotomy without the aid of surgical instruments or Jägermeister.
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Most interesting is exactly how little has changed since Adam Smith opined. Certain elements of man, government and the irreconcilable differences between them remain. Select passages from Wealth of Nations and the companion Moral Sentiments explain any number of 21st century catastrophes.
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Healthcare reform legislation: “In the progress of despotism the authority of the executive power gradually absorbs that of every other power in the state, and assumes to itself the management of every branch of revenue.”
Obama: “They have little modesty; are often assuming, arrogant, and presumptuous; great admirers of themselves, and great contemner of other people … Their excessive presumption, founded upon ...
(Excerpt) Read more at guysmith.org ...
“Wealth of Nations” is the best economics book I’ve ever read. Though some of Smith’s theories were later shown to be wrong (labor as the determinant of value, for example), there’s still none better at explaining wealth creation and the folly of mercantilism. It’s a surprisingly easy read, too. I highly recommend it.
Another victim of public schools.
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