Value and Exchange

The same old protectionist fallacies, back again.

Gus Stelzer, a retired General Motors senior executive, is on a rampage against free trade. It makes sense from his point of view. Like most big business, GM does not welcome competition from abroad, however much it's spurred product improvements over the years. It turns to the government to tax imports that consumers desire more. 

Jews have been a conspicuous presence in black neighborhoods for more than a century, providing food, home furnishings, medical care, living accommodations, and financial services. Most of the Jews involved in these enterprises were first- or second-generation immigrants from Europe. In recent times, as Jews have veered toward more decorous occupations, these functions have been increasingly assumed by newer immigrants, often Korean or Arab.

The doctrine in favor of the balance-of- payments is the worst illusory idea. Governmental interventions that seek to regulate international monetary flows to provide the necessary quantities of money for the economy are superfluous.

Human cooperation means that everybody tries to contribute to the improvement of human conditions. It is in the market that I give something in order that you give something. Exchange leads to higher standards of living. Voluntary exchanges create civilization.

Printed paper is the least fit to serve as money.  Paper destroys the monetary system. Various commodities have been employed until silver and gold and then gold alone won out because its quantity cannot be manipulated by the governments.

The capitalists, the enterprisers, and the farmers are instrumental in the conduct of economic affairs, but the captain is the consumer.

It was a purposeful confusion on the part of the German metaphysicians of statolatry that they clothed all men in the government service with the gloriole of altruistic self-sacrifice.