4 ms·

Smith does not seem to be a private-propery-idealist as almost anyone in the mainstream today. Take this passage for example, also from book V. "Wherever there

Smith does not seem to be a private-propery-idealist as almost anyone in the mainstream today. Take this passage for example, also from book V. "Wherever there is great property there is great inequality. For one very rich man there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many. The affluence of the rich excites the indignation of the poor, who are often both driven by want, and prompted by envy, to invade his possessions. It is only under the shelter of the civil magistrate that the owner of that valuable property, which is acquired by the labour of many years, or perhaps of many successive generations, can sleep a single night in security. He is at all times surrounded by unknown enemies, whom, though he never provoked, he can never appease, and from whose injustice he can be protected only by the powerful arm of the civil magistrate continually held up to chastise it. The acquisition of valuable and*23 extensive property, therefore, necessarily requires the establishment of civil government. Where there is no property, or at least none that exceeds the value of two or three days labour, civil government is not so necessary. Civil government supposes a certain subordination. But as the necessity of civil government gradually grows up with the acquisition of valuable property, so the principal causes which naturally introduce subordination gradually grow up with the growth of that valuable property. " http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN20.html http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN20.html

CryptoPunk 9y ago
Also note this passage, as a counter-point: >>[The rich] consume little more than the poor, and in spite of their natural selfishness and rapacity…they divide with the poor the produce of all their improvements. They are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society, and afford means to the multiplication of the species.
- primroot 9y ago
  Thanks. As the article states, Smith was clearly not some sort of proto-left-wing intellectual. Here is the source of your quote http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smMS4.html#IV.I.10 http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smMS4.html#IV.I.10 Evidently, Smith was unfamiliar with golf courses. I see the whole paragraph (of your quote) as being even more detached from today's reality than his oft-cited quote regarding famine and government.
antisthenes 9y ago
Adam Smith was the Piketty of his time. I'm guessing this is generally not obvious to the people who frequently cite him or portray him as some sort of free market champion. It's interesting how the issues addressed by him are just as relevant 240 years later, the main ones being insufficient taxation of wealthy landowners and eventual consolidation of capital.
ScottBurson 9y ago
Interesting, then, that the growth of inequality in the US in recent decades has occurred alongside a marked and ongoing fall in crime. Is it just that the rich can now afford electronic locks and security cameras?

CryptoPunk 9y ago

Also note this passage, as a counter-point: >>[The rich] consume little more than the poor, and in spite of their natural selfishness and rapacity…they divide with the poor the produce of all their improvements. They are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society, and afford means to the multiplication of the species.

primroot 9y ago
Thanks. As the article states, Smith was clearly not some sort of proto-left-wing intellectual. Here is the source of your quote http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smMS4.html#IV.I.10 http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smMS4.html#IV.I.10 Evidently, Smith was unfamiliar with golf courses. I see the whole paragraph (of your quote) as being even more detached from today's reality than his oft-cited quote regarding famine and government.

antisthenes 9y ago

Adam Smith was the Piketty of his time. I'm guessing this is generally not obvious to the people who frequently cite him or portray him as some sort of free market champion. It's interesting how the issues addressed by him are just as relevant 240 years later, the main ones being insufficient taxation of wealthy landowners and eventual consolidation of capital.

ScottBurson 9y ago

Interesting, then, that the growth of inequality in the US in recent decades has occurred alongside a marked and ongoing fall in crime. Is it just that the rich can now afford electronic locks and security cameras?