[Craig] I think it is better to look at it this way: The free market allocates profits in proportion that they are earned. The humanitarian use of those profits is not part of the free market. That is up to the profiteer.
[Krimel] Libertarian and Satirist P.J. O'Rourke has recently written a kind of Cliff Notes commentary on "The Wealth of Nations". There is a link to his appearance on the Daily Show below. In the interview he points out that Adam Smith hated corporations and advocated a free market because, "...he believed that it was better for us all to be bad than to have one bad person in charge of us all... the free market is just to decentralize our badness." You say, "Many agree with Smith for moral reasons not just because of power." O'Rourke, who is definitely not a liberal, makes the following observations that portray Smith as more cynical than moralistic. "Businessmen never get together even socially, even just to have a beer without cheating the public. That is all they talk about." "He (Smith) was very aware that a free market tends to vibrate between greed and fear." "The invisible hand is not Smith's way of saying capitalism will make everything Ok. The invisible hand is actually unintended consequences." I would echo John Stewart's observation to O'Rourke, "Thank God you've gone through his book and shortened it for us." http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=148347&title=p.j.-o'ro urke Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
