Indonesian dogs have the answer to the mystery of capitalism

Independent.co.uk ^ | 02 September 2002 | Simon Carr

[PsyOp]

"All systems either of preference or of restrainst, therefore, being thus completely taken away, the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord. Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men." - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776.

[snopercod]

I'm so pleased that you knew the source of the phrase "Cosmos and Taxis": For those who don't, it was the title of the second chapter of F.A. Hayek's book Law, Legislation, and Liberty, Vol. I. (As the author of the article stated, Cosmos means "spontaneous order" and Taxis means "Imposed order".)

The chapter starts off with a quote from Adam Smith:

The man of system . . . seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chessboard. He does not consider that the pieces upon the chessboard have no other principle of motion besides that which the hand impresses upon them; but that, in the great chessboard of human society, every single piece has a principle of motion of its own, altogether different from that which the legislature might choose to impress upon it. If those two principles coincide and act in the same direction the game of human society will go on easily and harmoniously, and is very likely to be happy and successful, If they are opposite or different, the game will go on miserably and the society must be at all times in the highest degree of disorder.

--Adam Smith, , 1759

1759!!!

[snopercod]

Thanks for posting this. It seems that such articles are not welcomed by the U.S. media.

Bugger the people? Here's more on that subject from Great Britain:

The Rise of the FU Movement

[snopercod]

Yes, there are plenty of good ideas at the corner store, but joanie-f   has it right: Trouble is, good ideas aren’t worth a damn in their playbook.

Everything the enemies of freedom do has one goal: To destroy the human mind, the ultimate source of our standard of living.

The primary method they use is convincing people that no matter how well they produce, they will not be rewarded, but in fact punished.

[Quix]

FILES

[nicollo]

Thanks, x, for the as usual valid perspective.

As for Latin America, with the Chilean exception, they instituted economic reforms without political reforms. I watched the Mercosur countries go through it in the late 80s and early 90s. A waste of good economic theory.

[nicollo]

I enjoyed your no. 16!

The Henry Ford story is an interesting one, for he was hated by labor organizers and adored by labor (except for some of the ones who worked for him...). He became a popular hero for taking on Wall Street using the most brutal methods of the "worst" capitalist (tried to squeeze out his partners by refusing to pay dividends). The famed $5-a-day thing came up as a way to better retain workers. He later said it was the best cost-saving strategy ever.

Whatever his good, bad, or ugly, the point here is that by serving himself and himself alone he helped mankind. Enormously.

I think we need to revive the word "populist." That's all these people are. They try to dodge the "socialism" label by calling themselves "progressives," and they may actually have a point inso far as they are more concerned with business regulation than ownership. But with these mindless rants against the rich, calls for "justice" and "human rights," they're nothing but low-down, low-hitting populist of the worst kind (which is what the progressives became, anyway).

[KC Burke]

The article resonates with issues from Hayek, as does all sensible study of economic systems and they comingled path with political systems. Besides the chapter you have cited, the 4th chapter of The Constitution of Liberty comes to mind when I read:

The law is something that has to be discovered rather than invented, De Soto quotes various philosophers and economists to this effect. It's an idea that's been around for thousands of years, but it's still wonderfully refreshing. In it, we see the difference between the Greek cosmos (the way living things naturally order themselves) and taxis (the military or academic way of organising things). Communities develop working relationships which the law is supposed to codify; it's not supposed to happen the other way round.

Hayek was no friend to Totalitarian Rationalist Democracry and all its mistakes and we on our side of the political spectrum need to understand how that reservation applies to some on our side as well.

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[snopercod]

... the "rich" nations of the world have the social and legal infrastructure required for the creation and protection of wealth.

Yes. Very good point.

This is what is lacking in Russia, today. When they first formed the CIS, I downloaded and read their constitution. It was apparent that the thugs would eventually take over after reading the preamble.

We, the multinational people of the Russian Federation, united by a common fate in our land, affirming human rights and liberties, civil peace and accord, preserving the historical unity of our State, based on generally recognized principles of the equality and self-determination of peoples, honoring the memory of our ancestors, who have given us our love and respect for the Fatherland, our belief in good and fairness, reinstating the sovereign statehood of Russia and affirming the firmness of its democratic foundation, striving to secure the well-being and prosperity of Russia, based on our responsibility for our Homeland to the generations of today and tomorrow, recognizing ourselves as a part of the world community, hereby adopt this CONSTITUTION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The concept of "limited government" is foreign to Russia.

[Huck]

nicollo, my good friend. I finally had a chance to read your post. I especially enjoyed the paragraph which begins "When will our college adolescents...smoke a genuinely radical thought?".

You back from the road? I just got back from a weekend getaway in Vermont. I'm still here in Jersey, looking to make it through yet another round of job cuts. There should be a few people in my area getting whacked pretty soon. It's still rough "out there", or, at least that is the impression I have gotten from the street level.

9-11 coming up. Hard to believe it's been a year. I remember where I was that day, and I remember where I was 6 months to the day, in Battery Park, at 8:46 AM when the church bell rang for one minute, in rememberance of the people who died that day. I stopped and took my cap off right there on the sidewalk, closed my eyes and prayed.

When I got back from Vermont on Monday night, it hit me just how nice the time in Vermont had really been. For those few days, life was really simple and beautiful. But it didn't really sink in until I got home. Since 9-11, I have come to appreciate how safe and peaceful times had become since 1990 or so, after the Cold War ended. I didn't really appreciate it until after 9-11. But I also realize I have no right to complain, because the peaceful years we experienced are the exception, not the rule. You look back over history and it's pretty clear.

[nicollo]

Great to hear from you! Glad you enjoyed VT. My parents just returned from Bennington where they were looking up some family history. They learned how an ancestor tasted it in 1775. Seems my great-great-great-whatever, "Remember Baker" (ain't that a great name!) took it in the head from an Indian. He was fighting under Gen. Schuyler in the Champlain region. Baker pulled the trigger first, but his gun misfired. Oops.

So I called up a buddy in NJ who is a Schuyler descendant and told him I'm filing suit. He replied that I ought to take a bullet for him, instead. This I agreed to, if he's ever attacked by Indians.

Good luck dodging the corporate guillotine...

Oh, thanks for sharing on the 9-11 anniversary. Chatting on the phone this morning, I walked outside and remarked how beautiful a day it was. Then I stopped silent, for it reminded me of taking just those same steps and thinking the same thing at about 8:30 am on a certain day in early September last year. The person on the line said, "You there? You ok?" I didn't explain.

Yes, prayers.

[Chong]

Instead... - There's Chavez, sucking dollars through a syphen hooked up to American gasoline tanks, bad-mouthing his lifeline...

- There's Jiang showing off China's first Supercomputer, INTEL INSIDE, worshipping the virtues of his broken nation, whose only salvation he knows is to turn to the American example of property rights, guarantee of contract, etc. (none of which will ever be secure without a free press and an armed citizenry...)...

- There's Chirac demanding a tax on American superiority in order to cover his national sense of guilt and inferiority...

- There's Kofi, hiding his ass behind UN floor votes to cover up his joined and upright palms...

- There's Saddam, pissing on his foot, counting grains of sand in fear of that one that marks the cruise missile aimed at his head, wondering exactly why he thought he could turn on his masters...

Thanks, Nicollo! Damn good rant! I feel better now too, thanks!