Recent Comments

1. 37 minutes ago on Doonesbury

   Oh, and I do object strongly to those who take snippets of Smith out of his historical context to justify their own political ends – and I think Smith would too if you could fill him on the next 200 years after he wrote Wealth of Nations.

2. 41 minutes ago on Doonesbury

   Uh, I think I answered that above. Smith, like all of us, was a product of his time. It didn’t take much money to start a small business at the time, you had to hire skilled labor, and his vision of real/honest competition couldn’t envision capitalist monopolies or trade unions any more than it could predict man landing on the moon.

3. about 2 hours ago on Doonesbury

   I’m not sure about that. Smith did a pretty good job of describing his own era, when royal monopolies kept real competition from happening and machinery in manufacturing was rare. His understanding of human motivation (greed) was accurate and his call to end monopolies and give business free range to do what it wanted was progressive at that time and was the basis for liberalism in the 19th century. Smith can’t be faulted for being unaware how the Industrial Revolution would develop. And the idea that government could pass laws to protect consumers? Are you crazy? Governments only existed to help the wealthy (See royal monopolies, above or the United States coming into existence where only men with property could vote – in order to protect their own economic interests. Can’t give the franchise to riff-raff.)

4. about 8 hours ago on Adam@Home

   Perhaps a cup of high octane coffee as well.

5. about 9 hours ago on Baldo

   You go to an associate for help and you expect help rather than a game of pass the package.

6. about 9 hours ago on Doonesbury

   Unfettered competition, according to Adam Smith, would drive wages up and prices down. (He was writing pre-Industrialization and all labor was skilled, and businesses weren’t in collusion to suppress wages.)

7. about 9 hours ago on JumpStart

   That’s why the good Lord gives rich people accountants, to keep track of holdings.

8. about 9 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   I used to buy the paper for world news. Now you need it for local news that the national services don’t bother carrying.

9. about 9 hours ago on Gil Thorp

   Have we skipped a day or something? The Mudlarks were playing the Central team, so why is the Valley Tech coaching staff in the locker room with the Milford team?

10. about 9 hours ago on Dick Tracy

    “He was a bit of an asteroid.”

    “An asteroid?”

    “He had an eccentric orbit. He only came close to the Institute every 217 days. He was overdue and we assumed he had crashed into the sun.”