tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19833734.post3267575929229675736..comments2024-02-22T19:21:40.330-05:00Comments on Muhlberger's World History: Bangladesh: still waiting for the tide to raise all boatsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19833734.post-66267364191168782422012-12-07T01:56:41.685-05:002012-12-07T01:56:41.685-05:00The market is powerless in the face of political d...The market is powerless in the face of political desire.<br />STAGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06198646624631167489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19833734.post-59063107952555502852012-12-02T22:13:27.521-05:002012-12-02T22:13:27.521-05:00Perhaps the better word would be "pseudo-Clas...Perhaps the better word would be "pseudo-Classical economics." The types who are peddling this stuff claim that they are inspired by, or applying the principles of Adam Smith and Jean-Baptiste Say, but in fact almost everything they attribute to those thinkers ranges from grotesque distortion to outright falsification of what they said. Having just reread Smiths' "Theory of Moral Sentiments" and his various philosophical essays, his real views are fresh in my mind. Were he alive today, he would angrily exposed the current crop of economic "market" crusaders as frauds and scoundrels.<br /><br />The Bengal disaster is virtually identical to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, the horror of which launched the reform movement that established the necessary laws to prevent future disasters --- the "market" had nothing to do with it. I can assure you that Adam Smith would have heartily endorsed such regulation.Phil Painehttp://philpaine.comnoreply@blogger.com