Pat Flannery schrieb:


Matthias Warkus wrote:

Nonsense.

Among other things, Smith advocates that government agencies collect
road tolls (WoN V 1.3.1), that the state tax all rentable capital,
albeit in a modest manner (WoN V 2.2), yet that some exportations can
be made partially tax-exempt (WoN IV 4). He also argues in favour of
Crown-owned parks and gardens, government-supported banks and
officially regulated fiat money.

Overall, "Wealth of Nations" is a remarkably moderate book that does
not call for any sort of extreme economical or political measure. Most
proposals it contains are based on contemporary examples. There is no
Utopian component whatsoever to it.

But look where it ends up; the book becomes the keystone of Laissez-Fair
economics, and the excuse for the concept of socio/economic Darwinism.

Uh-huh - but how does this matter? We are talking about what's actually
in the book.

mawa