Another Great Smithian Metaphor
Peter Boettke writes in The Austrian Economists (HERE):
“Is Adam Smith's discussion of governmental "juggling trick" relevant to our policy discourse today?
Scott has already talked about this at The Economic Way of Thinking, but we should dig a bit deeper into the discussion from Smith's Wealth of Nations, Vol. 2, pp. 929-230. Smith argues in those pages that: (1) when the public debt reaches a certain level, the fiscal system is threatend, but there is not a single instance where a government has paid off the debt fairly and completely; (2) rather than pay down the debt with increased taxes, government's choose "pretended payment"; (3) the prefered method of pretend payment is repudiation through debasement of the currency; (4) this method extends the 'calamity to a great number of other innocent people'; and (5) rather than do the right thing -- which would be least dishonorable to the debtor, and least hurtful to the creditor -- government instead choses to engage in "juggling trick".
Comment
This is a case of the appropriate use of a quotation from Adam Smith’s Wealth Of Nations because it is still relevant, as government debt has increased significantly since the 18th century – in those days debt was raised mainly to fund wars or bribe foreign powers – whereas nowadays government debts fund just about anything that modern, BIG, governments spend taxpayers’ and lenders’ money upon.
Smith wrote while governments were happily inventing new forms of raising revenue for governments from the private economy. ‘Sinking Funds’ to pay-off debt soon became sources of new funds to spend more money, not always, if ever, wisely. Then they added, on a ‘temporary’ basis, income tax , and so it has gone on and on. Today, in Britain’s case, we have ‘stealth taxes’ and ‘quantitative easing’ (printing money), and unheard of levels of debt.
Smith observed that governments managed to avoid paying back all of their debt through various “juggling tricks” (beware: another one of Smith’s metaphors!).
Congratulations to Peter Boettke for picking upon Scott's (HERE) references to government debt and 'juggling tricks'.
I recommend that you follow the links.
“Is Adam Smith's discussion of governmental "juggling trick" relevant to our policy discourse today?
Scott has already talked about this at The Economic Way of Thinking, but we should dig a bit deeper into the discussion from Smith's Wealth of Nations, Vol. 2, pp. 929-230. Smith argues in those pages that: (1) when the public debt reaches a certain level, the fiscal system is threatend, but there is not a single instance where a government has paid off the debt fairly and completely; (2) rather than pay down the debt with increased taxes, government's choose "pretended payment"; (3) the prefered method of pretend payment is repudiation through debasement of the currency; (4) this method extends the 'calamity to a great number of other innocent people'; and (5) rather than do the right thing -- which would be least dishonorable to the debtor, and least hurtful to the creditor -- government instead choses to engage in "juggling trick".
Comment
This is a case of the appropriate use of a quotation from Adam Smith’s Wealth Of Nations because it is still relevant, as government debt has increased significantly since the 18th century – in those days debt was raised mainly to fund wars or bribe foreign powers – whereas nowadays government debts fund just about anything that modern, BIG, governments spend taxpayers’ and lenders’ money upon.
Smith wrote while governments were happily inventing new forms of raising revenue for governments from the private economy. ‘Sinking Funds’ to pay-off debt soon became sources of new funds to spend more money, not always, if ever, wisely. Then they added, on a ‘temporary’ basis, income tax , and so it has gone on and on. Today, in Britain’s case, we have ‘stealth taxes’ and ‘quantitative easing’ (printing money), and unheard of levels of debt.
Smith observed that governments managed to avoid paying back all of their debt through various “juggling tricks” (beware: another one of Smith’s metaphors!).
Congratulations to Peter Boettke for picking upon Scott's (HERE) references to government debt and 'juggling tricks'.
I recommend that you follow the links.
Labels: Adam Smith Quotations, Banking, Government Debt, Smith's Metaphors
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