RE: RE: RE: Re: Re: RE: Re: We are what's left

["Max Sawicky" <sawicky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I appreciate the elaboration on Smith's moral philosophy,
but the context of this discussion was whether Nader
and populists were more like Smith than not.
My clipped summary of Smith emphasized the
contrast.  No embroidery of Smith's moral thought
can find any contact with the basic thrust of political
populism, either 19th century style or Naderite.  Restoring
or creating fair market competition is not the most pressing
theme in Nader's repertory, though it is not absent either.
We should be at least as interested in accurately gauging
current political trends as we are in rehabilitating dead
economists.

mbs


> Unfortunatetly, quoting of the "butcher and baker" passage out of
> context is exactly what the 1980s Adam Smith tie-wearing Reaganite
> Gordon "Greed is Good" Gekko types did to promote the idea of Smith as
> an unabashed promoter of self-interest.  . . .