Adam Smith on economic freedom

[PETRUS]

The "Wealth of Nations" author on banking regulation:

"Such regulations may, no doubt, be considered as in some respect a violation of natural liberty. But those exertions of the natural liberty of a few individuals, which might endanger the security of the whole society, are, and ought to be, restrained by the laws of all governments"

Well, whaddaya know...

[customerserviceguy]

1. Adam Smith

would not recognize too much of what we do today as capitalism, the way he wrote about it, anyway.

[unblock]

4. this is why i call myself a capitalist, and refuse to apply the term to today's economy

imho, capitalism REQUIRES active regulation just as much as football requires referees.

letting people get away with whatever they can get away with is not capitalism, it's economic anarchy.

[enlightenment]

2. Not a surprise - for anyone who has bothered to read Smith.

He was a moral philosopher - there was no such thing as an 'economist' in his time. The modern take on his philosophy of the free-market is an abomination.

[Odin2005]

3. The RWers would call the real Adam Smith a Commie.

The RWers misinterpret his ideas. Smith was attacking mercantilism and cartel-like economic institutions, not government intervention in the economy. He supported progressive taxation, welfare, and labor rights.

[Gregorian]

5. Now we know what needs fixing. We can't cure greed. But we can impose external controls on a system.

Unfortunately we have one half of the crew who want to steer the ship in the course of the best destination, and another half of the crew who want to go where it suits the profits of 1% of those on board.