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[jcb]

So I'm reading Adam Smith, and I'm sure that my initial reaction is the standard, boring old reaction that every little liberal kid has when he actually gets around to reading Adam Smith for the first time, but still: it's so upbeat! I was expecting much more of a dog-eat-dog, Hobbesy-Nietschey kind of a deal; it's much more Augustiney-Humey-

Comments

[agrumer]

Oh man, every liberal kid in the world should read Adam Smith:

“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” - Wealth of Nations, Book 1, Chapter 10

[jcb]

you know, I think that the opening for socialism in all of this is really his concept of rent. it's sort of the price you pay to have the stability neccesary to do business at all - maybe universal healthcare and education could get weaseled in that way.