Econ 009 ~ Church of the Laissez-faire

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http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2009/08/ten-dictates-practicalities-of-laissez.html
http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2010/06/yes-we-get-it.html

ECON 008 ~ "Give & Take"

~  (Laissez-faire style) ~

Adam Smith: The interest of the dealers, however, in any particular branch of trade or manufactures, is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public. To widen the market and to narrow the competition, is always the interest of the dealers. To widen the market may frequently be agreeable enough to the interest of the public; but to narrow the competition must always be against it, and can serve only to enable the dealers, by raising their profits above what they naturally would be, to levy, for their own benefit, an absurd tax upon the rest of their fellow-citizens. The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it. (The Wealth of Nations, p. 287-8—I.XI.III)

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Related posts:
Wealth Redistribution: http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2008/10/wealth-redistribution.html
Beyond the Mark: http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2009/12/beyond-mark_14.html
Who ate my cheese? http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2010/05/who-ate-my-cheese.html

ECON 007 ~ "Mine" Shafts

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Adam Smith: When masters combine together in order to reduce the wages of their workmen, they commonly enter into a private bond or agreement not to give more than a certain wage under a certain penalty. Were the workmen to enter into a contrary combination of the same kind, not to accept of a certain wage under a certain penalty, the law would punish them very severely; and if it dealt impartially, it would treat the masters in the same manner. (The Wealth of Nations, p. 164—I.X.I)





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Related posts: Who ate my cheese? http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2010/05/who-ate-my-cheese.html
Beyond the Mark: http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2009/12/beyond-mark_14.html
Wealth Redistribution: http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2008/10/wealth-redistribution.html

ECON 006 ~ Graphic Proof

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If you really want the "right" side-up of GOP deficit records, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms and also check out the links to government and other sites. The Ten Trillion Dollar Question: Is 30 years of data not enough to prove that deficit reduction is a promise devoid of substance or intention?

ECON 005 ~ "A Person"*

(*with proxy claims for equal human rights! Goes way beyond a "board" game.)

Note: (All ECON sketches may be used pursuant to the Creative Commons License noted herein.)

ECON 004 ~ Bill of "Goods"

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Reference: 1) http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2011/01/are-we-serfing-yet.html
2) http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2009/04/vc-bill-of-goods.html

ECON 003 ~ Capital Manifesto

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ECON 002 ~ Handwriting on the Wall

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Are we serfing, yet?

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So many of my acquaintances are panicked by government power (with some considerable justification), yet blasé (to the extreme) regarding the corporate giants who massage the backs and egos of elected officials. Giants who supply-line election and PAC coffers; giants who demand and receive favors; giants who even write legislation.

Does it not seem strange that the top four* (and many others) of “The Power 50” profiled by Newsweek magazine (Nov. 8, 2010, pp. 34+) are the trusted voices of millions for everything pro-big-business and anti-government? With all the déjà vu of money corrupting truth, perspective, memory, and motive shouldn’t we be a little more inclined to fact-check these voices? To question the Calvanist view that accumulation of money manifests merit and God’s favor? To review what God has to say about vast accretions of money and power? To remember that the first Boston Tea Party was as much, if not more, a rebellion against the massive, powerful, corrupting, monied, monopolistic, transnational East India Company (owner of the tea)? The British government, shoulder to shoulder, with the East Indian Company was muscling this huge corporate behemoth upon new-world, small entrepreneurs, putting many out of business. Maybe if we gave as much time to factual history as to Criminal Minds and Desperate Housewives, we would encounter a wider vision than that of faux-defenders of freedom and democracy via deregulated, big business and finance. Maybe we would encounter words of warning like:

Thomas Jefferson ~ 1816: I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government in a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.**

Judge Edward G. Ryan, Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge, 1873: [There] is looming up a new and dark power … the enterprises of the country are aggregating vast corporate combinations of unexampled capital, boldly marching, not for economical conquests only, but for political power. … The question will arise and arise in your day, though perhaps not fully in mine, which shall rule—wealth or man [sic]; which shall lead—money or intellect; who shall fill public stations—educated and patriotic freemen, or the feudal serfs of corporate capital. ….**

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*Top 4: 1) Rush Limbaugh, $58.7 million; 2) Glenn Beck, $33 million; 3) Sean Hannity, $22 million; and 4) Bill O’Reilly, $20 million; all right-wing voices who lament forever the massive, overwhelming power of the left. (Could that be Jon Stewart at #5!)

**As quoted in Unequal Protection by Thom Hartman pp. 103 and 94. © 2010.