“At what juncture does morality enter into Economic Calculus. In a way many people think Adam Smith gave us a free pass. A way not to think about morality because what Adam Smith said was that individuals in the pursuit of self interest are guided by an invisible hand to the general well being of society. Let me be clear, Adam Smith didn’t say that. Adam Smith was very much aware that when businesses got together, conspired against the public interest, raised prices, he was aware of monopolies, he was aware of the importance of education that the private sector couldn’t provide. So he himself was aware of all the limitations. But his descendants had forgotten that." Prof. Joseph Stiglitz, Former World Bank Chief Economist “Adam Smith was the godfather of classical economics, but since is publication his work has been used as a political football. Financiers twisting his words to suit them, such as the idea if bankers get rich then we get rich too through a process called trickle down economics or Horse and sparrow theory. If you feed the horse enough oats some will pass through the horse for the sparrows. The idea is extreme wealth concentrated in a small minority will eventually trickle down to everyone else. But it doesn’t work because by the time the money reaches the people at the bottom of our money pyramid it’s lost its purchasing power.”
Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 05:39:42 +0000
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