'Any Port in a Storm'

In Business Week, 16 October, HERE:

“Forget Adam Smith, Whatever Works” by Pete Engardio

"Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard W. Fisher addressed the high and mighty of global finance in Washington during pivotal meetings of the Group of Seven and the International Monetary Fund. The gravity and complexity of the 15-month-old credit crisis called for action that transcended familiar ideological categories, he hinted, such as free markets vs. state intervention. Fisher even borrowed a Chinese proverb popularized by the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping: "No matter if it is a white cat or a black cat, as long as it can catch mice, it is a good cat."

Comment
The reference to Adam Smith is in the headline alone, with nothing else about him in the text.

I agree, if the implied meaning about forgetting Adam Smith if this refers to his alleged, though false, views about the laissez-faire, zero government, invisible hand toting version of the mythical Adam Smith touted by Chicago trained or influenced economists.

However, I disagree if Pete Engardio refers to the real Adam Smith born in Kirkcaldy in 1723 and author of the Wealth Of Nations, who was never an ideologue, nor an extremist, nor even a single- issue exponent of moral philosophy and political economy.

The real Adam Smith was a pragmatist in all his policy advice. For example:

regulate those aspects of private banking services where the public were put at risk from the imprudent behaviours of individuals who borrowed or lent (Book II);

promote free trade and reduce or abolish tariffs slowly and gradually to prevent domestic employment being reduced suddenly; recognise that defence is more important than opulence, therefore keep the protectionist Navigation Acts in place, despite working against British commercial interests; leave some level of tariffs on foreign imports because they are necessary to fund government revenue (Book IV);

choose between public commissioners or private managers on grounds of which worked best; arrange where feasible for luxury users of publicly-funded roads to pay higher tolls than poorer people; charge small fees for parents sending their children to publicly-funded local ‘little schools’, and charge less or nothing at all for the most indigent (Book V).

‘Whatever works’ is sound advice, especially in emergencies and crises. 18th century Sailors used to say: ‘any port in a storm’.

There is of course a need, afterwards, to pay prudent attention to the detail, but the broad admonition should be entertained, rather than rigidly rejected in a fit of ideological purity.