Praise for an economic visionary far ahead of his time

Discussion in 'World Events' started by mpfunk, Jul 11, 2001.

  1. mpfunk economist slacker Registered Member

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    I was recently reading a Wall Street Journal article and found a new economist hero, Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850). The best part of this article was the description of a petition he submitted to French parliament. He was seeking relief from the "ruinous competition of a foreign rival who works under conditions so far superior to our own for the production of light that he is flooding the domestic market with it at an incredibly low price." The foreign rival was the sun. The relief sought was a law requiring the closing of all blinds to shut out the sunlight and stimulate the domestic candle industry.

    First of all what a novel idea, using satire in government if only this was used more often then politics would be more interesting. Secondly he was right then and he is right now, all countries need to move to completely free and open trade. He wasn't accepted then and regrettably he isn't accepted now either.
     
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  3. wet1 Wanderer Registered Senior Member

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    What a odd and unusal approach!
     
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