Posted on 04/02/2015 8:15:15 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
Theres a reason you dont see many Adam Smith ties in the faculty lounge. Adam Smith believed there are few things that the government should do, James Otteson of Wake Forest said at the Philadelphia Societys annual meeting in Philadelphia last month.
Otteson is the Executive Director of the BB&T Center for the Study of Capitalism and Teaching Professor of Political Economy at Wake Forest. He is the author of Adam Smiths Marketplace of Life.
Nevertheless, Smith, the Scottish philosopher has inspired American scholars and sages for centuries. Thomas Jefferson recommended The Wealth of Nations as a worthy title for his beloved University of Virginia.
Yet and still, the ideas that Smith promoted are sadly lacking on American campuses. Self-control, for example, is one of these.
Moreover, he is given less quality time, even in free market venues, then more faddish notions. For example, seven years ago, the libertarian Cato Institute devoted a panel to the Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness by University of Chicago professors Richard A. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein.
At the Philadelphia Society conclave, Smith scholar Otteson compared his hero unfavorably to Thaler and Obama advisor Sunstein, and not without reason. Specifically, while Smith endorsed decentrality and no central authority to direct others lives, the UChi profs recommend extensively relying on centralized experts, like Thaler and Sunstein, Otteson noted wryly.
The Philadelphia Society is comprised of a group of conservative intellectuals. It was formed in the wake of the Goldwater defeat of 1964.
I don’t know if there’s an Adam Smith or a Milton Friedman ping list but it might be worthwhile. So many do not understand the “invisible” but effective working of the free market economy. Anyway, I thought this was worth passing along.
Milton Friedman on Adam Smith below (they were essentially two peas in a pod).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-H-e0VbM7M
The leftists I know, being Humanists, HATE the idea of the “invisible hand”,
because it smacks too much of God running things, or at least intelligently creating the universe such that things happen in an “undirected by human hands” sort of way.
It denies their own godhood. (Gen 3:3-5)
Nudge? They misspelled it. It's actually spelled n-o-o-d-g-e.
The Invisible Hand of Adam Smith?
bmp
"Without intending it, without knowing it, [the rich] advance the interest of the society, and afford means to the multiplication of the species."
Adam Smith
The wealth of Nations by Knowledge products is the best audio I have heard. It give some back ground and highlight, the book is hard read but I have done it.
Here is a you tube but the audio is not the best. Buy it if you can. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugWhq6bsJQU
The leftists I know, being Humanists, HATE the idea of the invisible hand,
because it smacks too much of God running things, or at least intelligently creating the universe such that things happen in an undirected by human hands sort of way.
It denies their own godhood. (Gen 3:3-5)
I have wondered if the title of his book is from:
Isa 66:12 This is what the LORD says: “I will give Jerusalem a river of peace and prosperity. The wealth of the nations will flow to her. Her children will be nursed at her breasts, carried in her arms, and held on her lap.
:) Thanks!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.