Originally Posted by Mark_Twain

This is complete and utter bullshit. Have you never read The Wealth of Nations? Smith never argues for the complete elimination of a governmental role in economies. Hell, our Constitution (that was largely inspired by a lot of what Smith had to say) sure does talk a lot about trade, etc. for the Founding Father's vision not to have desired somewhat of a role for government regulated economies.

Here's one for you regarding monopolies: "The monopolists, by keeping the market constantly understocked, by never fully supplying the effectual demand, sell their commodities much above the natural price."

Think about the last time we had great consolidation of wealth & power in an industry. Standard Oil comes to mind. So does Ma Bell. Hell, the dishonest power brokers in Bush Inc.'s cabinet ALL come from the energy industry, so it should be no surprise that price gouging such as that which occurs under a monopoly is now occuring throughout all segments of America's energy industries.

More specifically, think about this Smith quote:

"To widen the market and to narrow the competition is always the interest of the dealers ... The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted, till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it."

Think about this. Smith flat-out warns about the lobbyist class (read: Fred Thompson). He warns about allowing businessmen to write the laws. You openly seem to advocate it with your asinine, unstudied, ignorant posts.

You corporate libertarians would crack me up if your hairbrained ideas weren't so dangerous in practice. And your willingness to be "deceived and oppressed" by these dishonest shitheads might be the most alarming thing I've ever read here at USPOL. I'd highly suggest a crack-course in economic theory before posting anymore of Rush's rantings or Hannity's insanities here.