Virtue Quest

So I’m afraid I won’t have time to write a proper post.

My friend Jenny, though, drew my attention to the tragedy of the loss of local businesses. There are many causes of this tragedy, but one of the causes is the choices of thousands of individuals to patronize “big box” stores and national chains rather than these local businesses. It’s true that buying local may hit the pocketbook a little harder, but that’s largely because we’re paying something much closer to the actual cost of the goods we’re purchasing.

So, at least consider shopping local whenever you can. Economics begins at home, after all.

You've got to love a man who loves his mother

So, as I mentioned in the comments below, I’m an economic and political ignoramus, and I’m essentially live-blogging my self-education. So, of course, Adam Smith’s classic The Wealth of Nations is on my reading list; I’m working through it now.

Now, I’ve been told that Smith isn’t quite the die-hard laissez faire 100% regulation free super-capitalist my mother warned me about. I’m advised that he’s quite a moral guy, and sees an important role for government regulation in the marketplace, but that those parts come later in the book. I’m happy to keep reading.

But there are a few major red flags popping up in the first few chapters, and I thought I’d mention them because they all have one thing in common: they put things ahead of people.

Unwarranted assumptions

Smith makes a number of assertions at the beginning of his work, (more…)