I do wonder though if the author had read Smith's first book. I always felt that The Wealth of Nations held true only if you accepted The Theory of Moral Sentim

I do wonder though if the author had read Smith's first book. I always felt that The Wealth of Nations held true only if you accepted The Theory of Moral Sentiments as true. However if you believe that people's own selfishness is stronger than their empathy to their fellow humans, then The Wealth of Nations arguments are on very shaky ground. Still as you say, most people just cherry pick one sentence fragement from the 1000+ pages of the book to justify "free markets".