Essential Economics for Politicians
- Thread starter Bruddah IZ
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Bruddah IZ
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Pope Francis Is Mistaken about Free Markets
Free market capitalism does not increase inequality; it decreases it.
Free market capitalism does not increase inequality; it decreases it.
Hüsker Dü
DA
Are conservatives ever right?
The question isn’t meant to suggest that liberals are never wrong. But reviewing the last few decades of conservative policy initiatives—or their objections over that timespan to policies they hate—shows a consistent pattern of failure: predictions never pan out, and intended results turn to catastrophic flops.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/politics/2014/11/conservative-nonsense-political-history
The question isn’t meant to suggest that liberals are never wrong. But reviewing the last few decades of conservative policy initiatives—or their objections over that timespan to policies they hate—shows a consistent pattern of failure: predictions never pan out, and intended results turn to catastrophic flops.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/politics/2014/11/conservative-nonsense-political-history
Bruddah IZ
DA
In case you forgot who your POTUS is, Yes.
Bruddah IZ
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Oh good. He should have stopped right there before he launched in to his whataboutism.
Bruddah IZ
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Bruddah IZ
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Even though I’m a professional economist, I am sympathetic to Pope Francis’s remarks. Indeed, I think many of my colleagues are too quick to dismiss criticisms of the market as being unsophisticated, and they ignore the wise sentiments that motivate the popular distrust of capitalism. In the Independent Institute’s new collection of essays, Pope Francis and the Caring Society, my fellow contributors and I did our best to grapple with the pope’s calls for social justice as we unapologetically defended the benefits of private property and market prices.
Regarding his specific remarks to the students in Lyon, I hope we can all agree with Pope Francis that the lure of money is indeed a trap for those who worship it (as he put it). The Bible teaches that the love of money is “the root of all evil,” and people of all religious traditions — or none at all — can surely recognize that the single-minded pursuit of material wealth is no way to live.--Bob Murphy
Regarding his specific remarks to the students in Lyon, I hope we can all agree with Pope Francis that the lure of money is indeed a trap for those who worship it (as he put it). The Bible teaches that the love of money is “the root of all evil,” and people of all religious traditions — or none at all — can surely recognize that the single-minded pursuit of material wealth is no way to live.--Bob Murphy
Sheriff Joe
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The pope is wrong all the time.
Bruddah IZ
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But He's Not Entirely Correct
Having agreed with the pope thus far, where I strongly differ is in his dismissal of the “invisible hand.” It’s not merely that I think Pope Francis needs to better appreciate the workings of the market economy. As a Christian myself, I think Adam Smith’s famous metaphor illustrates a pattern in the way a loving God deals with His fallen children.
To set the context, in his treatise The Wealth of Nations (1776), Adam Smith famously wrote,
By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, [an individual] intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.
Smith is showing that the government doesn’t need to promote domestic industry, because individuals who seek only their own narrow gain will do so on their own.
This helps us see that Pope Francis has set up a false dichotomy: He seems to be urging those entering the financial sector to ignore market signals and personal gain in order to better help the poor and downtrodden. Yet Adam Smith’s point was that people who are pursuing personal gain — as long as their activity relies on exchanges that are consensual among all participants — end up unwittingly promoting the welfare of others. In modern times, the only way to become a billionaire in the free market is to create a new product or service that millions of people want or enjoy.
Hüsker Dü
DA
Oh my! How dare you disparage the leader of the Catholic Church and the millions of devout Catholics that look to him for supreme guidance . . . isn't that right Lion Eyes? I mean really if it is wrong for wez to do . . . ?
Bruddah IZ
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The Pope Knows as much about economics as you do. That makes him wrong all the time RFG 2
Hüsker Dü
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Funny coming from Dizzy the prophet of no profit.
Sheriff Joe
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The Pope's a nut. If any of those Catholics need advice, I am willing to guide them.
Bruddah IZ
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Funny coming from the guy that is only worth $2 more an hour after 10 years.
Hüsker Dü
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Sorry you don't understand how that works, or how anything works judging from your posting history. Besides the Republican caused recessions we've been through and the attempts at "trickledown economics" that have stifled the economy over the last 30+ years I've done fine . . . the $2? That was scale, on the check, I've always made over scale and unlike you have invested well. Sorry things haven't worked out for you and that you have become so bitter.
Bruddah IZ
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Iʻm not bitter now that I know you were only making .20 cents more a year for the last 10 years according to your stagnating wages post in which you tried to associate yourself with the stagnating wages of those folks that have long ago and continuously moved on from those jobs that you assumed people work at throughout their whole life. Nice reasoning RFG2. At .20 cents more a year you must be quite the investor.
They don't care. They speak from the gut, not the brain. Their gut tells them that immigrants and taxes and minorities are screwing them over and if we throw out those types and get back to being "politically incorrect" and helping out the wealthy and the large corporations, then they'll be safer and their wages will go up and we will have more jobs. It's instinctual. They are not interested in any factual underpinnings or historical evidence of whether their beliefs are the correct solution or not. Emotions are more powerful than intellect...
Bruddah IZ
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Thatʻs some powerful emotions youʻve got there!! x10 even!
Hüsker Dü
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You have no idea, google Hunt brothers silver to see where it all began.