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Thread: Donald Trump Supporters Please Take Note: An Economy Is Not a Business

  1. #1

    Donald Trump Supporters Please Take Note: An Economy Is Not a Business

    I'm double posting this in the Economy & Markets sub-forum as well.... dupe thread is intentional this time.

    Don Boudreaux sends out the following email.

    Mr. Charlie Naumov

    Mr. Naumov:

    Good to hear from you again.

    You ask why I’m “comfortable ignoring Donald Trump’s business expertise” when I criticize his “resistance to trade.”

    A business person’s success at making money no more implies that he or she has a scientific understanding of economics than does a rock-star’s success at making music imply that he or she has a scientific understanding of acoustics. Economics and business are simply not the same thing. And an economy is emphatically not a business.

    A business is an organization for production and sales; it is designed and managed to yield profit. The yielding of the profit is the business’s rationale. And while managing his firm to yield maximum profit is the ultimate goal of the business person as a business person, the ultimate goal of the business person as a human being is not to maximize the value of what he produces and sells over the value of what he purchases and consumes. (Any business person who lives in this way is a genuine miser. His personal standard of living is as low as it can possibly be, consistent with his continuing to survive and operate his business profitably.) As a human being, the business person’s ultimate goal is, as economists say, to maximize his utility. Put more sensibly, it is to lead as full and as fulfilling a life as possible – a process that requires that the business person consume, as a human being, goods and services.

    To be expert at business, therefore, is to be expert at only one part of the range of human activities that make up an economy. A person succeeds in business only if he manages (as we say colloquially) to make money. So the businessman’s attention as a businessman is to make as much money as possible; it is to maximize profits; it is to have as much money roll in to his firm and as little money as possible roll out of his firm, all in the quest to accumulate profits as great as possible.

    But what’s the point of making money – of maximizing profits? Ultimately it is to enhance the businessman’s ability to consume. The successful businessman withdraws from his business the profits he earns and spends them (or leaves them to be spent by his heirs and designees) on consumption goods and services. Yet consumption itself does not require special expertise (or at least it doesn’t require the kind of expertise that yields business profits). Personal (or familial) consumption is no part of the business.

    Because the ultimate goal of economic activity is consumption – because to fully comprehend the function and the ‘purpose’ of an economy requires an appreciation of the reality that consumption is the ultimate point of economic activity – expertise at business not only is not expertise at comprehending the economy, it too often blinds business people to the economy’s ultimate rationale.


    Trump, like many a business person, judges an economy as he judges his business: he asks ‘By how much are our production and sales expanding relative to our purchases?’ This question is the wrong one to ask about an economy, whose performance should be judged only by how much ordinary people’s ability to consume improves over time (rather than by how much the economy’s sales grow relative to its purchases). So when Trump sees Americans buy imports, he sees money flow out of what he mistakenly imagines to be America, Inc. Thinking of the American economy as being one gargantuan business, Trump mistakenly sees imports as costs that drain this ‘business’ of resources rather than as goods and services made possible because the economy is successfully fulfilling its ultimate purpose – namely, to improve people’s standard of living by giving them ever-greater access to goods and services for consumption.

    …..

    I am painfully aware of my inability to make myself sufficiently clear on this point. And the differences between a business and an economy are more numerous than I’ve suggested above. But this letter is already too long. I end simply by saying that if the American economy really were run as if it were a business the goal of which is to maximize monetary profits, then every American man, woman, and child would live like a pauper because any consumption beyond what is necessary to keep the American people fully productive as workers and as business people would reduce the ‘profits’ of America, Inc. Were the American economy really run as the logic of people such as Trump implies that it should be run, all Americans would impoverish themselves as they enrich non-Americans with all of the goods and services that we export to them – exports for which we refuse to accept any imports in exchange. Our profits – measured as our “trade surplus” – would be enormous; we’d have lots of money. Our well-being would be minimal; we’d have almost no goods and services for our consumption.

    Sincerely,
    Donald J. Boudreaux
    Professor of Economics
    and
    Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
    George Mason University
    http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com...ease-take.html



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  3. #2
    Department of Redundancy Department?

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Ronin Truth View Post
    Department of Redundancy Department?

  5. #4
    "Government" should not be a "business." It has become one. But it is not meant to be one. As it stands government is the best business. What other business allows for no competition, forcibly compels transactions, doesn't give one $#@! about customer service and runs in the red while perpetually expanding? The answer is none.

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    "Government" should not be a "business." It has become one. But it is not meant to be one. As it stands government is the best business. What other business allows for no competition, forcibly compels transactions, doesn't give one $#@! about customer service and runs in the red while perpetually expanding? The answer is none.
    The government has done a great job of putting the mafia out of business, not by busting it but by replacing it. It is in the business of getting a cut out of everybody's action.

  7. #6
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    While I think actual business experience is better than a government worker, and I do think Trump will be better than Hillary, the reality is that Trump wants to do dumb things like recraft Obamacare instead of eliminate.
    Citizen of Arizona
    @cleaner4d4

    I am a libertarian. I am advocating everyone enjoy maximum freedom on both personal and economic issues as long as they do not bring violence unto others.

  8. #7
    Just this Sunday I had a man tell me, "I hope you're going to vote for trump. We need a businessman to run the economy."
    Partisan politics, misleading or emotional bill titles, and 4D chess theories are manifestations of the same lie—that the text of the Constitution, the text of legislation, and plain facts do not matter; what matters is what you want to believe. From this comes hypocrisy. And where hypocrisy thrives, virtue recedes. Without virtue, liberty dies. - Justin Amash, March 2018

  9. #8
    When some of you find a perfect candidate, come tell us all about it. Right now, there is one man, Trump, who is standing between us and the Trans Pacific Partnership and the advancement of world government.

    So, bitch, whine and moan all you want, I'm voting for the only one who has a chance in hell of putting a stick in the globalist's spokes. Because if that is not done, you're not going to have an opportunity to come up with your nirvana candidate.
    ================
    Open Borders: A Libertarian Reappraisal or why only dumbasses and cultural marxists are for it.

    Cultural Marxism: The Corruption of America

    The Property Basis of Rights



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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by LibertyEagle View Post
    When some of you find a perfect candidate, come tell us all about it. Right now, there is one man, Trump, who is standing between us and the Trans Pacific Partnership and the advancement of world government.

    So, bitch, whine and moan all you want, I'm voting for the only one who has a chance in hell of putting a stick in the globalist's spokes. Because if that is not done, you're not going to have an opportunity to come up with your nirvana candidate.
    Bump!

  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    "Government" should not be a "business." It has become one. But it is not meant to be one. As it stands government is the best business. What other business allows for no competition, forcibly compels transactions, doesn't give one $#@! about customer service and runs in the red while perpetually expanding? The answer is none.
    Corporatism.

  13. #11
    “I don’t think that there will be any curtailing of Donald Trump as president,” he said. "He controls the media, he controls the sentiment [and] he controls everybody. He’s the one who will resort to executive orders more so than [President] Obama ever used them." - Ron Paul

  14. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by LibertyEagle View Post
    When some of you find a perfect candidate, come tell us all about it. Right now, there is one man, Trump, who is standing between us and the Trans Pacific Partnership and the advancement of world government.

    So, bitch, whine and moan all you want, I'm voting for the only one who has a chance in hell of putting a stick in the globalist's spokes. Because if that is not done, you're not going to have an opportunity to come up with your nirvana candidate.
    You must not have ever heard the expression: "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good... unless you're a libertarian.. in that case it is perfectly fine to sacrifice a good situation in favour of a perfect one that is not actually going to happen".

    It's actually a very wise expression because it allows you to completely $#@! things up while also feeling totally smug about it.
    Donald Trump > SJW ass-tears

  15. #13
    Is the Mafia aware of the thread title assertion?

  16. #14
    It's one thing to say "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," but when you say that, you have to be mindful of working toward good things and not going the wrong way. Voting for Trump is going the wrong way. Of course, in this election there is no right way...so we're screwed either way.

    Just don't try to say one is better than the other, because it's not true.

  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by cajuncocoa View Post
    It's one thing to say "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," but when you say that, you have to be mindful of working toward good things and not going the wrong way. Voting for Trump is going the wrong way. Of course, in this election there is no right way...so we're screwed either way.

    Just don't try to say one is better than the other, because it's not true.
    Stopping TTP IS the right thing.

    Renegotiating NAFTA or getting out of it entirely IS the right thing.

    Getting the federal government out of the education business IS the right thing.

    Stopping the importation of peoples who have IQs far lower than the citizenry IS the right thing and who will also go on the dole the minute they get here.

    Hell, the man is even talking about getting us out of NATO. That IS also a good thing.
    ================
    Open Borders: A Libertarian Reappraisal or why only dumbasses and cultural marxists are for it.

    Cultural Marxism: The Corruption of America

    The Property Basis of Rights

  18. #16
    Obama was gonna get us out of the wars. That would have been good. Too bad he was full of $#@!. But most of us knew he was, that's why we didn't vote for him. Same with Trump.
    Quote Originally Posted by dannno View Post
    It's a balance between appeasing his supporters, appeasing the deep state and reaching his own goals.
    ~Resident Badgiraffe






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  20. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by cajuncocoa View Post
    It's one thing to say "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," but when you say that, you have to be mindful of working toward good things and not going the wrong way. Voting for Trump is going the wrong way. Of course, in this election there is no right way...so we're screwed either way.

    Just don't try to say one is better than the other, because it's not true.
    I think he meant to say "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the bad." Screw the good! I'm going over the cliff with Trump!
    Amash>Trump

    ΟΥ ΓΑΡ ЄCΤΙΝ ЄξΟΥCΙΑ ЄΙ ΜΗ ΥΠΟ ΘЄΟΥ

    "Patriotism should come from loving thy neighbor, not from worshiping graven images" - Ironman77

    "ideas have the potential of being more powerful than any army....The concept of personal sovereignty was pulled screaming from the ether into this reality by the force of men believing in a self evident truth, that men are meant to be free." - The Northbreather

    "Trump is the security blanket of aggrieved white men aged 18-60." - Pinoy

  21. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by William Tell View Post
    Obama was gonna get us out of the wars. That would have been good. Too bad he was full of $#@!. But most of us knew he was, that's why we didn't vote for him. Same with Trump.
    True. Every option is a coin toss. But, it seems to me that the odds are far worse if the candidate clearly states that they are going to screw your country over; that's Hillary. You may say, why not Johnson then. I think his open borders BS is akin to suicide, don't agree with his principles, such as they are, about starting wars, hate his position on abortion and it will be a cold day in hell that I vote for a candidate who so strongly lobbied for a VP who not only is a member of the CFR, but chaired the task force that laid the groundwork for a North American Union.
    ================
    Open Borders: A Libertarian Reappraisal or why only dumbasses and cultural marxists are for it.

    Cultural Marxism: The Corruption of America

    The Property Basis of Rights

  22. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by LibertyEagle View Post
    When some of you find a perfect candidate, come tell us all about it. Right now, there is one man, Trump, who is standing between us and the Trans Pacific Partnership and the advancement of world government.

    So, bitch, whine and moan all you want, I'm voting for the only one who has a chance in hell of putting a stick in the globalist's spokes. Because if that is not done, you're not going to have an opportunity to come up with your nirvana candidate.
    This is probably the best argument people make about Trump. As it stands now, he probably believes in the protectionism stuff. I just don't believe he would have any ability to doing anything about NAFTA nor do I believe he has much intent on avoiding globalism. I just don't believe he wouldn't change his mind if he finds out it somehow benefits his ego and bank account. I have a hard time believing anyone who's spent their adult life filching average people for the rights to their property is going to look out for my best interest now.
    The wisdom of Swordy:

    On bringing the troops home
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    They are coming home, all the naysayers said they would never leave Syria and then they said they were going to stay in Iraq forever.

    It won't take very long to get them home but it won't be overnight either but Iraq says they can't stay and they are coming home just like Trump said.

    On fighting corruption:
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Trump had to donate the "right way" and hang out with the "right people" in order to do business in NYC and Hollyweird and in order to investigate and expose them.
    Fascism Defined

  23. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by LibertyEagle View Post
    Stopping TTP IS the right thing.

    Renegotiating NAFTA or getting out of it entirely IS the right thing.

    Getting the federal government out of the education business IS the right thing.

    Stopping the importation of peoples who have IQs far lower than the citizenry IS the right thing and who will also go on the dole the minute they get here.

    Hell, the man is even talking about getting us out of NATO. That IS also a good thing.
    LE, you look at that one thing and fail to look at the big picture. He talks about a lot of things. Reagan talked, too. But Reagan accomplished little of what he talked about (he was always ranting about the size of the federal government) instead of decreasing it, he grew it (the military ballooned.)

    There are so many other things that Trump could screw up without even getting around to stopping TPP, or building that wall, or getting the federal government out of the education business. His ideas run counter to the Constitution, but that doesn't even bother you...yet you scream at members of this board every day about the Constitution. You are the queen of hypocrisy.


    (Incidentally, the idea that people who don't live in this country all have lower IQs is a very xenophobic mindset, indicative of those who truly have low IQs.)

  24. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by LibertyEagle View Post
    ...Trans Pacific Partnership and the advancement of world government...
    Transatlantic Partnership is effectively dead. Britain signed on to the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (as have many of our own historical/traditional allies) some time ago, prior to their recent vote to head out of the EU. They'll likely hook up with Russia and China there in their silk-road projects and do their own thing. Japan, too. And don't forget about the establishment of the BRICs Bank. BRICS are making interesting moves.

    All of that said, the rest of the world's Geo-political powers are likely going to put a damper on the TPP, itself. Mr. Globalist (short speak for those pushing world government...it's a big crowd, as you likely know) will likely fight back. In fact, they are. It'll get jiggy, for sure.

    It's an important thing that you bring up here. With dire consequences. Consequences that trickle down. We're effectively talking about official repatriation.
    Last edited by Natural Citizen; 07-01-2016 at 11:20 AM.

  25. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by LibertyEagle View Post
    Stopping TTP IS the right thing.

    Renegotiating NAFTA or getting out of it entirely IS the right thing.

    Getting the federal government out of the education business IS the right thing.

    Stopping the importation of peoples who have IQs far lower than the citizenry IS the right thing and who will also go on the dole the minute they get here.

    Hell, the man is even talking about getting us out of NATO. That IS also a good thing.
    That IQ remark is pretty repulsive and untrue. I'm pretty sure all the Mexican workers I've dealt with have a higher IQ than your Orange Man.
    There is no spoon.

  26. #23
    But this letter is already too long.
    Agreed,, TLDR



    Trump 2016!!!
    It's all about taking action and not being lazy. So you do the work, whether it's fitness or whatever. It's about getting up, motivating yourself and just doing it.
    - Kim Kardashian

    Donald Trump / Crenshaw 2024!!!!

    My pronouns are he/him/his

  27. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by cajuncocoa View Post
    LE, you look at that one thing and fail to look at the big picture. He talks about a lot of things. Reagan talked, too. But Reagan accomplished little of what he talked about (he was always ranting about the size of the federal government) instead of decreasing it, he grew it (the military ballooned.)

    There are so many other things that Trump could screw up without even getting around to stopping TPP, or building that wall, or getting the federal government out of the education business. His ideas run counter to the Constitution, but that doesn't even bother you...yet you scream at members of this board every day about the Constitution. You are the queen of hypocrisy.


    (Incidentally, the idea that people who don't live in this country all have lower IQs is a very xenophobic mindset, indicative of those who truly have low IQs.)
    It should be obvious to everyone at this point that the whole Trump movement is nothing more than race baiting. All Trump supporters are race-baiting cucks.
    Amash>Trump

    ΟΥ ΓΑΡ ЄCΤΙΝ ЄξΟΥCΙΑ ЄΙ ΜΗ ΥΠΟ ΘЄΟΥ

    "Patriotism should come from loving thy neighbor, not from worshiping graven images" - Ironman77

    "ideas have the potential of being more powerful than any army....The concept of personal sovereignty was pulled screaming from the ether into this reality by the force of men believing in a self evident truth, that men are meant to be free." - The Northbreather

    "Trump is the security blanket of aggrieved white men aged 18-60." - Pinoy



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  29. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by The Rebel Poet View Post
    It should be obvious to everyone at this point that the whole Trump movement is nothing more than race baiting. All Trump supporters are race-baiting cucks.
    Sure looks that way.
    There is no spoon.

  30. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by The Rebel Poet View Post
    All Trump supporters are race-baiting cucks.
    That's a rather bold proclamation to make. Will you provide a source that supports your claim? Thank You.
    Last edited by Natural Citizen; 07-01-2016 at 11:34 AM.

  31. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by The Rebel Poet View Post
    It should be obvious to everyone at this point that the whole Trump movement is nothing more than race baiting. All Trump supporters are race-baiting cucks.
    They're race-baiting xenophobes with the intelligence of 12-year olds who just like to use that word because it sounds dirty.

  32. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by cajuncocoa View Post

    Originally Posted by The Rebel Poet

    All Trump supporters are race-baiting cucks.

    They're race-baiting xenophobes with the intelligence of 12-year olds who just like to use that word because it sounds dirty.
    All of them sure are a lot of people, cajun. Will you support your claim? Thanks.

  33. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by LibertyEagle View Post
    Stopping the importation of peoples who have IQs far lower than the citizenry IS the right thing and who will also go on the dole the minute they get here.
    Wow just wow
    Partisan politics, misleading or emotional bill titles, and 4D chess theories are manifestations of the same lie—that the text of the Constitution, the text of legislation, and plain facts do not matter; what matters is what you want to believe. From this comes hypocrisy. And where hypocrisy thrives, virtue recedes. Without virtue, liberty dies. - Justin Amash, March 2018

  34. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Natural Citizen View Post
    That's a rather bold proclamation to make. Will you provide a source that supports your claim? Thank You.
    Exhibit A is this very site. I'm assuming the meat of you question has to do my my use of the word "all," but you can correct me if that isn't the issue.

    First, let me distinguish between wanting to do something, and doing something. If I high five a man, and because of that he falls off of a cliff and dies, it is not at all clear that I wanted him dead (likely the opposite), but he is none the less dead. Second, let me make clear (just in case and for the benefit of onlookers as well) the meaning of a "cuck" it is short for cuckold which means a man who's wife has cheated on him. This in turn comes from the cuckoo bird, which will often care for eggs fertilized by another bird male. So a cuck is someone who is gulliblely being used politically for ends that they don't necessarily agree to. Now, what has the fruit of the Trump movement been? You can't deny that race-baiting has occurred. I never said all Trump supporters are racists, only that they are all being used in a political race-baiting game. But as I have taken the time to work through my point logically, I must realize I was wrong. Not all Trump supporters are race-baiting cucks. Some of them are racists. But all the others are race-baiting cucks.
    Amash>Trump

    ΟΥ ΓΑΡ ЄCΤΙΝ ЄξΟΥCΙΑ ЄΙ ΜΗ ΥΠΟ ΘЄΟΥ

    "Patriotism should come from loving thy neighbor, not from worshiping graven images" - Ironman77

    "ideas have the potential of being more powerful than any army....The concept of personal sovereignty was pulled screaming from the ether into this reality by the force of men believing in a self evident truth, that men are meant to be free." - The Northbreather

    "Trump is the security blanket of aggrieved white men aged 18-60." - Pinoy

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