Profits From Stupidity, by Robert Gore

Posted by straightlinelogic 9 years, 1 month ago to Economics
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The analyses of these activities are straightforward exercises in microeconomics. If government takes money from taxpayers and redistributes it to government employees, contractors, or beneficiaries, that’s money the taxpayer can’t spend, save, or invest that will be spent, saved, or invested by the government’s payee. The propensities to spend, save, and invest may differ between taxpayers and government payees, but all three activities are necessary in an economy and governments have no special insight into the optimal mixture. They don’t even know beforehand what those propensities are, although many studies in abstruse economics journals have tried to determine them. The studies amount to high-toned guesswork, a search for an answer to a question that doesn’t need to be asked unless one believes that governments are better at deciding how much people spend, save, and invest than the people themselves.

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  • Posted by $ WilliamShipley 9 years, 1 month ago
    While I decry the vast amount of resources taken out of the private sector and wasted I think they pale in significance next to the incredible drag on productive enterprise that regulations bring.
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  • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 1 month ago
    Robert; As always, excellent job. Your essay makes me wonder. How in the world can a system in which the 'stupid' and the sociopaths profit continue to exist and proliferate, and what does that say about the rest of us? How can so many fail to see the evil hiding behind the mask of stupidity?
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    • Posted by 9 years, 1 month ago
      Ayn Rand had the answer. If nobody stands up for the right and the wise, the evil and the stupid win by default. The wisdom I get from Galt's Gulch and a few other sources, while appreciated, is miniscule compared to the malevolent trash out there.
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    • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 1 month ago
      They continue to exist because, those who know better are impotent, and others don't care. Their existence, however, is temporary and it will not continue forever. The amazing strengths and ideas of the founders were so powerful, that even in the face of the chipping away, which is becoming blasting away, they have endured as far as they have. There is very little left, and so, dear Z say bye-bye as the results of stupidity causes a world-class disappearing act.
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