RoR: Forum

Ah yes - Bastiat... so much for the French claiming capitalism as an 'anglo-saxon' notion.... not to mention 'laissez- faire' is French itself, betraying origin......

Post 1

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 5:23am

Thank, you Peter, for the essay.

Leonard Reed called it "I, Pencil."

http://www.libertyhaven.com/thinkers/leonarderead/ipencil.html

or

http://www.ccsindia.org/lssreader/5lssreader.pdf

(The above is the Center for Civil Society, and as you can see, it is in India. I have found other links like this, free market, laissez faire, even libertarian and Objectivist, from India. India is a big place with a lot of people, so diversity is not a surprise, but, yes, it is a surprise, a pleasant one, indeed.)

Speaking of breakfast, I liked the "breakfast as commerce" scene in Trading Places.

Post 2

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 10:08am

Nice piece, Peter, sanctions.

Post 3

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 11:45am

A good essay and a point well made. I am a Bastiat fan and I recently noticed that many of his works are available in complete form on the web. For those interested, here is an example :

http://www.constitution.org/law/bastiat.htm

Post 4

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 3:46pm

You might also be interested in checking out www.bastiat.org which has many of his works available in French, English, and Spanish.

(Why is the url getting screwed up?)

Post 5

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 4:03pm

Thanks everyone for your comments.

Leonard Read's piece is very good when you already know what he was trying to say, but as I recall last time I went to recommend it I found it full of religious nonsense at the explanatory part of the essay, which can be confusing to a reader when you're trying to de-mystify for him the concept of the 'invisible hand'

Bastiat however is impossible to recommend too highly, but sadly too little known. His collection of essays 'Economic Sophisms' is unimpeachably good.

And I must confess I pinched the title from John Ridpath, who used the phrase in a lecture explaining Say's Law, and how Say's Law explains the "economy as an integrated and interconnected phenomena" just like life. The lecture is called 'Integration and Human Life.'

Post 6

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 5:47pm

Peter,

I liked it.

<bonk>

(oops, Andrew told me what that meant in New Zealand - I meant it as a sanction, like bonking you with a sword for knighthood or, er... hmmmm... using the invisible hand to bonk y... ahem... uh... maybe that metaphor isn't working too well...)

Would you pass the milk and honey, please?

(whew!)

Michael

Post 7

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 8:03pm

Thanks, Peter, for your article. Whew, Bastiat, I went to http://www.econlib.org/library/Bastiat/basSoph.html for Economic Sophisms. I haven't read all the way through yet, but so far it's brilliant. Out of control, clear thinking, beautiful.

Julia

Post 8

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 8:13pm

Frederic Bastiat was pivotal in my own intellectual development. I was a kid in high school, a conservative anti-communist, when I encountered his classic, The Law. It had a powerful impact on me, helping me understand for the first time the moral limitations on government.

Bastiat set me up for Rand: when I read her politics and ethics, it was like a logical continuation and development of Bastiat's own views. He wrote not only as an incisive economist; his political essays were rhetorical marvels, and his satirical talents are legendary. Read his "Petition of the Candlemakers Concerning Unfair Competition from the Sun," or his hilarious anti-protectionist essay calling for a "negative railroad."

I enthusiastically recommend the writing of this brilliant, visionary thinker to anyone who wishes to understand the nature of liberty and government. For a broader survey of his work, try his Selected Essays on Political Economy.

Post 9

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 8:54pm

"Petition of the Candlemakers Concerning Unfair Competition from the Sun,"

Bah Ha Ha!!!

Don't you find that the most brilliant often have the most gratifiying sense of humor? I went to an Eddie Izzard performance, and almost had to leave because I couldn't get air, I was laughing so hard.

Julia

Post 10

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 9:10pm

We interrupt this broadcast for an aside to Julia:

Saw Eddie Izzard (I think it was him) playing Charlie Chaplin in a fairly recent vintage film, The Cat's Meow. He was brilliant.

Now we return to our regular programming...

Post 11

Monday, June 27, 2005 - 6:00pm