LOONY TUNES no. 176
1
Camille Roberts posts (29 September) on ASKMEN.Com HERE
CEO Pays Employees $2,000 To Go On Vacation
“Trending News: Super-Cool CEO Gives Employees $2K To Make Them Take Vacation”
Why Is This Important?
Because this CEO is treating his employees like… dare I say it... people? Long Story Short
Mark Douglas, the CEO of marketing company SteelHouse, pays his employees to go anywhere in the world to get some R&R. With a cap of $2,000, employees can be reimbursed and/or use the company credit card to book transportation for travel.”
2
Liam Fox, MP, a conservative government minister, thinks he was quoting Adam Smith in a speech on Brexit, reported by Adam Childs, a journalist, on VICE HERE
(Fox) “referred to Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, a classic economic tome from 1776, saying that the "invisible hand" will regulate the market without the need for regulation. The crowd was enthusiastic. I was surrounded by the cult of Smith.”
COMMENT
Smith did not say that the metaphor of an ”invisible hand” would “regulate the market without the need for regulation”. That his listeners were “enthusiastic” in their (and Liam’s) delusion is sad, as well as misguided.
Smith referred to an instance that the intentional actions of a merchant, who believed that exporting abroad was too risky and therefore he invested his capital in his domestic market, unintentionally benefitted the public good.
Smith gave many other examples of “mercants and manufacturers” who were motivated to act against the public good by supporting tariffs on imports, thus raising prices by reducing competition, or calling for outright prohibitions on imports, or supporting other actions against the public good, motivate by jealousy of trade, even wars against rival economies.
In short, there was no wholly benevolent “invisible hand” miraclously acting in markets. That is a modern myth from people who have never read Wealth of Nations carefully.
3
Headine:
“Adam Smiths invisible Hand In A Velvet Glove”
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home