Marx applied

What would Marx say to the way Stalin, Mao, and Lenin (and Russia for that matter) applied him?

What would Marx say to Bastiat?

Viktor Frankl's take on collectivism

"Freedom from responsibility is the motif of all collectivism."

another movie

If you can watch Metropolis (silent 1920) it is a great look at the way marx saw society

What do you think of this Chesterton quote?

Inventions have destroyed invention.   gkc

A Link from Mercy

http://patriotpost.us/alexander/2008/11/14/our-sacred-honor-to-support-and-defend/

Natural fertility

Does concealing stock destroy natural fertility?   End of Book 2 ch. 1

Adam Smith Never Said "Capitalism"

The word "capitalism" was not used by Adam Smith-- it was Karl Marx who later coined the term. "Liassez faire" economics, as the theory is still identified, meant, as the French term suggests, that government should leave the economy alone. This was a direct attack on mercantilism of the period. The essential tenants of capitalism, as developed by Smith, included:

(1) The means of production, land and capital, are privately owned. "Capital", here, means the plant and equipment used to produce goods and services.

(2) The economy is organized and coordinated through the interaction of buyers and sellers (or producers) in markets.

(3) Suppliers, the owners of land and capital as well as laborers, pursue their own self-interests in seeking maximum gain and profits from the use of their resources. Buyers of goods and services similarly spend their money to yield the greatest satisfaction.

(4) With suppliers and buyers pursuing self-interest the market is constructed in which the value (or price) of goods and services is determined through the "haggling" of seller and buyer.

(5) With a competitive market of buyers and sellers following self-interest, the economy is self-regulating and there is little role for government. The sovereign is necessary mainly to protect society from foreign attack, uphold the rights of private property, guarantee contracts, and assist, where necessary, in the building of "infrastructure", to include roads, canals, and similar "public" goods.

Why does Brad Pitt Make So Much Money by Adam Smith

Why does Brad Pitt make an exorbitant  amount of money? The inconsistency of the division of labor

I.10.28

There are some very agreeable and beautiful talents of which the possession commands a certain sort of admiration; but of which the exercise for the sake of gain is considered, whether from reason or prejudice, as a sort of public prostitution. The pecuniary recompence, therefore, of those who exercise them in this manner, must be sufficient, not only to pay for the time, labour, and expence of acquiring the talents, but for the discredit which attends the employment of them as the means of subsistence. The exorbitant rewards of players, opera-singers, opera-dancers, &c. are founded upon those two principles; the rarity and beauty of the talents, and the discredit of employing them in this manner. It seems absurd at first sight that we should despise their persons, and yet reward their talents with the most profuse liberality. While we do the one, however, we must of necessity do the other. Should the public opinion or prejudice ever alter with regard to such occupations, their pecuniary recompence would quickly diminish. More people would apply to them, and the competition would quickly reduce the price of their labour. Such talents, though far from being common, are by no means so rare as is imagined. Many people possess them in great perfection, who disdain to make this use of them; and many more are capable of acquiring them, if any thing could be made honourably by them.   Pg 148

Duck Tales Economics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYuKNFw2cKI

Reagan's Little Red Hen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQAwdEdAT3Y

Futurists

"[This] is modern thought. It is so confident of where it is going to that it does not know where it comes from. GKC

Reason

GKC says,  "The real use of reason is to find the meaning of instinct." We want to break windows, to build unnecessary bridges, rehabilitate pavement or fill up holes, just to see people busy. Society is afraid to let anyone sit, to let the market work because we can't SEE the market work but we can see individuals filling up a hole.

Mercantilists

Why would mercantilists hate physiocrats?

Physiocrats

Physiocrats were trying to tie economy into the only 'real' capital they recognized, that was land. What are their strengths and weaknesses?

Movie recommendation

"Future by Design" ---what does a society of all machines look like and what is its morality?