Chris
06-11-2012, 10:47 AM
Free Trade: The Litmus Test of Economics (http://lewrockwell.com/north/north1153.html)
Free trade is the litmus test of economic reasoning. It has been ever since David Hume wrote his 1752 essay on commerce.
Foreign trade, by its imports, furnishes materials for new manufactures; and by its exports, it produces labour in particular commodities, which could not be consumed at home. In short, a kingdom, that has a large import and export, must abound more with industry, and that employed upon delicacies and luxuries, than a kingdom which rests contented with its native commodities. It is, therefore, more powerful, as well as richer and happier. The individuals reap the benefit of these commodities, so far as they gratify the senses and appetites. And the public is also a gainer, while a greater stock of labour is, by this means, stored up against any public exigency; that is, a greater number of laborious men are maintained, who may be diverted to the public service, without robbing any one of the necessaries, or even the chief conveniencies of life.
His friend Adam Smith made it the touchstone of economic logic and policy. His great work, The Wealth of Nations (1776), challenged the mercantilists, who believed in the mixed economy: free markets, legal monopolies, and tariffs.
Mercantilism is the default setting for most people. It is based on trust in state power....
And who is the source of this view in America? Tax-Loving Conservatives (http://lewrockwell.com/north/north1152.html)
This may sound odd. Conservatives don't love taxes. They want lower taxes. Right? They want lower taxes and smaller government.
I wish that were true. It isn't.
Alexander Hamilton was a crusader for higher taxes and a larger national government in the 1790s. He wanted higher taxes in order to raise money for a higher federal debt. He wanted higher federal debt because he wanted investors in government IOUs to commit to the survival of the United States. Free market economist Thomas DiLorenzo has summarized Hamilton's position, which he accurately identifies as crony capitalism.
In a lengthy "report" to Congress on the topic of the public debt Hamilton said that "a national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a public blessing." He would spend the rest of his life politicking for excessive government spending – and debt. The reason Hamilton gave for favoring a large public debt was not to finance any particular project, or to stabilize financial markets, but to combine the interests of the affluent people of the country – particularly business people – to the government. As the owners of government bonds, he reasoned, they would forever support his agenda of higher taxes and bigger government. (He condemned Jefferson's first inaugural address and its minimal government message as "the symptom of a pygmy mind.") No wonder one historian entitled his book on Hamilton American Machiavelli.
In 1791, he persuaded George Washington and then Congress to transfer to a group of private investors the right to set up a central bank that was not answerable to Congress or anyone else in government. The Bank of the United States had the right to create fiat money out of nothing, lend it to the government, and keep the interest paid by the government. This was the supreme institution of crony capitalism in America from 1791 to its expiration in 1811.
He was also a big supporter of tariffs. Tariffs raised the money the government needed to pay interest to the Bank of the United States, which was independent of the government of the United States. Tariffs were taxes favored by big-government conservatives. They still are....
Free trade is the litmus test of economic reasoning. It has been ever since David Hume wrote his 1752 essay on commerce.
Foreign trade, by its imports, furnishes materials for new manufactures; and by its exports, it produces labour in particular commodities, which could not be consumed at home. In short, a kingdom, that has a large import and export, must abound more with industry, and that employed upon delicacies and luxuries, than a kingdom which rests contented with its native commodities. It is, therefore, more powerful, as well as richer and happier. The individuals reap the benefit of these commodities, so far as they gratify the senses and appetites. And the public is also a gainer, while a greater stock of labour is, by this means, stored up against any public exigency; that is, a greater number of laborious men are maintained, who may be diverted to the public service, without robbing any one of the necessaries, or even the chief conveniencies of life.
His friend Adam Smith made it the touchstone of economic logic and policy. His great work, The Wealth of Nations (1776), challenged the mercantilists, who believed in the mixed economy: free markets, legal monopolies, and tariffs.
Mercantilism is the default setting for most people. It is based on trust in state power....
And who is the source of this view in America? Tax-Loving Conservatives (http://lewrockwell.com/north/north1152.html)
This may sound odd. Conservatives don't love taxes. They want lower taxes. Right? They want lower taxes and smaller government.
I wish that were true. It isn't.
Alexander Hamilton was a crusader for higher taxes and a larger national government in the 1790s. He wanted higher taxes in order to raise money for a higher federal debt. He wanted higher federal debt because he wanted investors in government IOUs to commit to the survival of the United States. Free market economist Thomas DiLorenzo has summarized Hamilton's position, which he accurately identifies as crony capitalism.
In a lengthy "report" to Congress on the topic of the public debt Hamilton said that "a national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a public blessing." He would spend the rest of his life politicking for excessive government spending – and debt. The reason Hamilton gave for favoring a large public debt was not to finance any particular project, or to stabilize financial markets, but to combine the interests of the affluent people of the country – particularly business people – to the government. As the owners of government bonds, he reasoned, they would forever support his agenda of higher taxes and bigger government. (He condemned Jefferson's first inaugural address and its minimal government message as "the symptom of a pygmy mind.") No wonder one historian entitled his book on Hamilton American Machiavelli.
In 1791, he persuaded George Washington and then Congress to transfer to a group of private investors the right to set up a central bank that was not answerable to Congress or anyone else in government. The Bank of the United States had the right to create fiat money out of nothing, lend it to the government, and keep the interest paid by the government. This was the supreme institution of crony capitalism in America from 1791 to its expiration in 1811.
He was also a big supporter of tariffs. Tariffs raised the money the government needed to pay interest to the Bank of the United States, which was independent of the government of the United States. Tariffs were taxes favored by big-government conservatives. They still are....