Adam Smith and government
Government leaders have never read Adam Smith. I am sure of it. At least not in full. In fact, if government leaders had read Smith he would understand that small government means small problems and big government means big problems. Or in the words of our founding fathers ‘the government that governs least governs best’.
Government leaders ares living under a cognitive illusion that Adam Smith pointed out not only in his Wealth of Nations, but also the theory of moral sentiments. government’s illusion is this: people acting on their own enlightened self interest are contrary to the general good of society as a whole. Adam Smith pointed out just the contrary. Smith said when you give people freedom, economic freedom which means no or low taxes, because people are good in nature, people will do things unconsciously for the greater good. government’s idea is people are bad by nature or at least does not trust that people can find their own solutions to problems, and government must take action and make the choice how to spend your money or the greater good will suffer.
Smith’s message is people will always know how to spend their own money better than the government does. government’s message is big government is needed to create a Utopian social state.
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2 responses to Adam Smith government
I think you miss the point about government
“Government” doesn’t believe any of that. Government is acting in its own self interest to control capital to grow and stay alive. The more dependant the population is on the government the more power the governing have. They don’t want the people to be independant because it would lessen their power and control. The same as has been seen in Russian communism and European socialism. We use a different name for it, but it coming down to the same thing.
Government extraction of wealth from hard-working people for the benefit of the their own is an old story. Systems, whether biological, political or bureaucratic systems or even viruses strive to expand and grow and amass power. The difference with government economies and free market is free market economies is a free market is a positive sum game. In contrast, Government led economies are a negative sum game.
Government’s self-interest is the interest of those working for the government or getting direct government cash. Free market self-interest seems selfish, but is nothing more than individuals being the best they can be to serve others through innovation and creativity.
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