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#adam-smith — Public Fediverse posts

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  1. Hans Stegeman has published a short essay on Smith, and how – unmoored from their moral foundations as outlined in "Theory of moral sentiments" – markets turn from coordinating value creation to peddling value extraction. In capitalism growth is an imperative: "When real productive growth is insufficient – [...] the machine turns to the next best thing: commodification of nature, rising debt, financial engineering, deregulation."

    hansstegeman.substack.com/p/wh

    #economics
    #bubbles
    #AdamSmith

    1/2

  2. In a better world, I am #reading a focused route thru the political thought immediately preceding #AdamSmith in Wealth of Nations:

    1. Aristotle, Politics
    2. Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy
    3. Hobbes, Leviathan
    4. Locke, Second Treatise of Government
    5. Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws
    6. Hume, Political Discourses
    7. Cantillon, Essay on the Nature of Commerce in General
    8. Quesnay, Tableau économique

  3. Growing up, I was always told to mock #socialism as a form of utopianism, as if that was a bad thing. #Utopianism was never a belief that something would happen, or that anything would be perfect. It was a thought experiment to consider what a perfect outcome would look like, so we could implement the ideas and get as close as possible. Meanwhile, #capitalism , #conservatism , #liberalism , and #libertarianism are just as #utopian in their dreams. Capitalism and libertarianism believe that if we JUST get government out of the way, we could have the #freemarkets work the way they are supposed to and lead to prosperity for all, never mind that corporations only exist because of #bankruptcy laws and standards created by Congress. Modern conservatism believes that if we just went back to a specific, unspecified time point when religion ruled, we would have prosperity again, never mind that America was never like that, even when we were at our most religious. #Liberals believe that if freedom, equality, and equity are guaranteed, but with a true free market that does require governments to regulate it, we would have true prosperity. The only difference is that #Marx , using arguments by #AdamSmith himself, poked holes in all of these ideas at their core. That the structure itself needed an overhaul of who holds power, or at least patched with a strong welfare state, and to work toward that utopian dream where the people held the power instead of the lords or #oligarchs and everyone was a lawmaker with direct democracy, there was a return of #thecommons that was just the norm for most of human history, and #personalproperty was something you physically used, erned and worked instead of from trading, hoarding and wasting while people starved aka #privateproperty . The day the lords stole the commons from the people was the day that socialism started to exist, with the Diggers and the Levelers attempting to take on the power of the lords and realizing they already ran their own villages, or communes and affairs in their areas, and the lords were just a middleman that contributed little to nothing. Hence the term #communism , which is a return to the natural commons people like #John Locke and #Voltaire and other #Enlightenment thinkers idealized, but capitalism has brainwashed people to ignore, forget, or never know in the first place they believed this while we were told to look up to them. Utopianism gives us the power to dream, to coalesce our ideas and our ideals. When we were told not to dream of our ideal world but were told to dream of their ideal, that's when the dream died and we just all became doomers.
  4. Sorry that Kshama Sawant lost her election yesterday, and the war mongering genocide denying Adam Smith will get another term in office. I'm really glad she ran though, we need more candidates talking directly about the working class, and forcing candidates and the media to talk about these issues.

    #uspolitics #kshamasawant #workingclass #adamsmith

  5. Interesting election today, Kshama Sawant challenges Adam Smith in Washington primary. It'll be difficult to defeat Adams, but he's clearly nervous and I hope they manage it.

    ballotpedia.org/Washington%27s

    #congress #politics #kshamasawant #adamsmith

  6. It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.
    -- Adam Smith

    #Wisdom #Quotes #AdamSmith #Economics

    #Photography #Panorama #BWCA #RoseFalls #Minnesota

  7. "Just 'align the incentives' and let markets do the rest.

    This is an area where there's broad overlap between the left and the right. Chapter one of The Communist Manifesto is Marx and Engels' love letter to the incredible power of markets to improve everyone's material conditions by increasing production while lowering costs.

    Meanwhile, over in Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith comes to the same conclusion."

    #CoryDoctorow, 2026

    pluralistic.net/2026/07/16/luc

    #markets #economics #communism #AdamSmith

  8. If you are not familiar with one of my favorite Seattle politicians socialist Kshama Sawant, check out Chris Hedges' substack interview with our three time elected city council member who is now challenging moribund military industrial supporter (never saw a weapon he didn't like) Adam Smith who's been in Congress for nearly 30 years.
    #KshamaSawant #Congress #Seattle #AdamSmith #DeadbeatDems

    open.substack.com/pub/chrished

  9. “It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the publick expence, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion”

    —Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature & Causes of the Wealth of Nations, vol. III (1776)

    Adam Smith ſays tax the rich

    3/3

    #Scottish #literature #18thcentury #economics #AdamSmith #tax #taxation #tax_the_rich

  10. “All writers have ideas for books they will never write. Mine is ADAM SMITH’S GUIDE TO PARENTING, an attempt to de-throne mummy & re-anoint society as the prime mover in child development”

    —As we confront how time spent in digital spaces impacts socialisation & child development, Allyson Stack looks at Adam Smith’s THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS for inspiration

    2/3

    imaginedspaces.org/new-writing

    #Scottish #literature #18thcentury #AdamSmith #parenting #socialmediaban

  11. “not only is there no invocation of the free market […] Smith does not believe in a capitalist marketplace wholly free from restriction or regulation”

    —Adam Smith (1723–1790) was baptised #OTD, 16 June (NS). Evan Gottlieb examines Smith’s “Invisible Hand”. Evan Gottlieb examines Smith’s “Invisible Hand”

    1/3

    thebottleimp.org.uk/2013/05/in

    #Scottish #literature #18thcentury #economics #AdamSmith

  12. #OnThisDay 5. Juni:
    1723 - Adam Smith wird geboren.
    1947 - US-Außenminister Marshall gibt die Grundlagen seines Aufbauprogramms für Europa bekannt.
    Was wollen wir feiern?
    ---
    [Täglich Weltgeschichte mit Objekten aus unserem Portal im DDB-Kalenderblatt: deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.d]
    #adamsmith #unsichtbarehand #marshallplan

  13. The current #finance-bro fixation of #monetization of every angstrom of existence is creating a system where everyone is geared to try to make money without an actual commensurate creation of classic #AdamSmith-grade value. It's the performance of value by arbitrary assertion of a desired valuation, not by actual value added to anything. It's rentier capitalism instead of productive #capitalism.

    And it is deeply stupid.

  14. @wauz ワウズ Das hat der #AdamSmith, wenn ich ihn richtig verstanden habe, anders gesehen. Weil es mein Profit ist, bringe ich sinnvolle und qualitativ hochwertige Produkte auf den Markt.
    Mit der Landjugend habe ich vor 40 Jahren Ungarn besucht und auch einen landwirtschaftlichen Betrieb besichtigt.
    Luzernetrocknung: Aufnahme und Verteiler waren NEUERO.
    Schlepper Ursus, Ladewagen Mengele.
  15. "He is not saying that our self-interest, properly channelled through markets, incidentally produces good outcomes for others. He is saying that we are constitutively social creatures — that we are naturally concerned for others’ well-being independent of our own self-interest, and that a just society must be built on that recognition." #economics #canada #cdnpoli #adamsmith thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026/04/27/

  16. U.S. Congressman Adam Smith (Washington), top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, calmly laid out Hegseth’s and Trump’s failings with respect to #Iran, including Trump’s attacks on #NATO and allies and schoolgirls, and it is perfect. 10/10, no notes.

    #Iran #AdamSmith
    youtu.be/pE-dV4BtK6Q?si=eDfIXZ