Wealth of Nations in Doggerel
 

:D

The worst of all the multitude
Did something for the common good.
This was the state's craft, that maintain'd
The whole, of which each part complain'd:
This, as in musick harmony,
Made jarrings in the main agree;
Parties directly opposite,
Assist each oth'r, as 'twere for spight;
And temp'rance with sobriety
Serve drunkenness and gluttony.
The root of evil, avarice,
That damn'd ill-natured baneful vice,
Was slave to prodigality,
That noble sin; whilst luxury
Employ'd a million of the poor,
And odious pride a million more:
Envy itself and vanity
Were ministers of industry;
Their darling folly, fickleness
In diet, furniture, and dress,
That strange ridic'lous vice, was made
The very wheel that turn'd the trade.
Their laws and cloaths were equally
Objects of mutability;
For what was well done for a time,
In half a year became a crime;
Yet whilst they altered thus their laws,
Still finding and correcting flaws,
They mended by inconstancy
Faults which no prudence could foresee.
Thus vice nursed ingenuity,
Which join'd with time and industry,
Had carry'd life's conveniencies,
It's real pleasures, comforts, ease,
To such a height, the very poor
Lived better than the rich before;
And nothing could be added more.


http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWNCover.html

I've read quite a number of major economic works since reading Smith's. "Wealth of Nations" still ranks as one of the most boring. That darn pin factory still resonates. :)

Post the Cliff Notes.;)

Wealth of Nations is a study on the nature of feedback systems in the economy. Things like supply vs demand and associated price effects, green space development and profitability, corporations and labor, etc. etc.

It's pretty interesting. I have not read the entire book yet but it is fun in a nerdy way. It certainly lays to rest any argument of "well no one could see THAT coming."

Adam Smith saw most all of it coming. Karl Marx added thoughts to account for automation and the messes that come with it. Those two guys did the heavy lifting in economic thought. Everything after that is incremental and, IMO, in large part manipulative instead of instructive. By manipulative I mean deceitful. The new stuff seems to be trickery to grow GDP but it ignores the effects on people that have to live with the crap. Adam Smith and Karl Marx put people at the forefront.

And what is life after all? People.

Excellent post.

Here is interesting paper that discusses the slow job recovery and lack of innovation.

http://www.nber.org/papers/w18315.pdf

It is another reminder of the wisdom of the line "And nothing could be added more."