Most ordinary folk today live far better than did the Sun King himself. That advance in prosperity has not been built on government intervention, on needless consumption, nor on monetary debasement or otherwise the bilking of ones’ creditors. It was built on savings being converted into capital.
Few countries around the world wanted to be entangled in the War on Iraq, but now everyone seems eager to participate in reconstruction. The United States, as primary military aggressor, has estimated the cost of this effort totaling $100 billion over the next several years.
Some of the most common arguments advanced against the price system are those based on religious faith. In fact, all forms of statism can be tied to some form of faith. It may be a faith in a human being, or committee of human beings. Certainly, socialism requires a great deal of faith in the abilities of central planners to collect relevant, nonquantifiable, up-to-date information about the desires of millions of remote individuals.
