Mr. Rottman:  It’s such an honor to speak with you Dr. Smith—my favorite economist!

 

Dr. Smith:  Professor of Moral Philosophy, sir (absentmindedly dipping his bread into the hot water in his tea cup).

 

R:  Why the long title of your signature book?

 

S:  It is a long book, so that bespeaks a long title.

 

R:  I’d love to hear your thoughts on America in 2023….

 

S:  Indeed. I have always cheered on your country’s independence. But, alas, I am disquieted.

 

R:  Why? Is it our leaders? Our trade policy? Our debt? Surely not our Packers or Brewers!?

 

S:  Your libations are excellent. But…ah, where to begin? I will quote from my book; perhaps you will learn a thing or two? “Great nations are never impoverished by private, though they sometimes are by public prodigality and misconduct…” This Elon Musk of yours; worry not.

 

R:  That’s a relief! To be honest, I was starting to wonder.

 

S:  Government officials, on the other hand—let me continue:  “The whole, or almost the whole public revenue, is in most countries employed in maintaining unproductive hands….Such people, as they them-selves produce nothing, are all maintained by the produce of other men's labour.”

 

R:  I have to admit, I’ve been in a line at the DMV and I’ve seen highway construction workers. That does sound like a pessimistic vision….

 

S:  One of your economists would call it “constrained.” I believe his image adorns the Economics Hallway in your institution?

 

R:  Indeed; Dr. Sowell is an accomplished economist. But don’t you think individuals are capable of doing amazing things?

 

S:  Again, let me quote from my Inquiry: “Every individual...generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. A person intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.”

 

R:  Ah, the invisible hand; just about everyone knows you are the “invisible hand” guy. How many times did you refer to it in your book?

 

S:  Once; I economized. That was sufficient.

 

R:  And the opposite of the invisible hand is the “visible fist”?

 

S:  You said that, not I.

 

R:  So this invisible hand has helped our country since you wrote in 1776. How come?

 

S:  “Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.”

 

R:  So it is that easy?

 

S:  It is that difficult. I sense your taxes less “easy” than they once were?

 

R: Tell me about it. As long as they don’t tax away my crypto!

 

S:  Your what?

 

R:  Never mind. I’m a teacher. You are—umm, were—a professor. Are we important?

 

S:  “The difference between the most dissimilar characters, between a philosopher and a common street porter, for example, seems to arise not so much from nature, as from habit, custom, and education.”

 

R:  So as educators, we need to focus on knowledge, but also support students in developing great habits, and fostering strong character. 

 

S:  And, of course, they should read yours truly?

 

R:  Of course. 

 

S:  That is good. I’m still living with and taking care of my elderly mother—which is why I’m still a bachelor. But in society, individuals don’t always act out of love for others. “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. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages.”

 

R:  Yeah, that is how I talk to my butcher. Well, my George Washingtons do most of the talking.

 

S:  Precisely. That George is a good man….

 

R:  Was, unfortunately. I hope to visit his home again. And, Dr. Smith…

 

S:  Yes?

 

R:  We have a new disease now…

 

S:  Egads! The Great Plague?

 

R:  Something like that. And the Authorities have some plans….

 

S:  Double egads! As I have written, “The man of system…is apt to be very wise in his own conceit, and is often so enamoured with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government, that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it.”

 

R:  We have some “men of systems” here.

 

S:  “He goes on to establish it completely and in all its parts, without any regard either to the great interests or the strong prejudices which may oppose it: he seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chess-board; he does not consider that the pieces upon the chess-board have no other principle of motion besides that which the hand impresses upon them.”

 

R: Is that why I sometimes feel like a pawn? I wonder if this applies to plans for government-subsidized green investments?

 

S.  Indubitably, though I can not fathom what that entails.

 

R:  Speaking of plans, we have a number of people without homes in our country. Any suggestions?

 

S:  “In every great monarchy of Europe the sale of the crown lands would produce a very large sum of money….When the crown lands had become private property, they would, in the course of a few years, become well-improved and well-cultivated...the revenue which the crown derives from the duties of customs and excise, would necessarily increase with the revenue and consumption of the people.”

 

R:  Hmm. Are you suggesting selling city-owned land to create more housing? Have you never heard of NIMBY?

 

S:  Not in my Scotland, no.

 

R:  Some people today are worried about business people’s misconduct. What do you think of merchants?

 

S:  “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion…”

 

R:  …I think I’ve seen plenty of merriment in establishments around town….

 

S:  “…but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”

 

R:  Egads! Really?

 

S:  I’d like to continue:  “It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty and justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary.”
 

R:  So, we mustn’t stop people in business from colluding, but governments shouldn’t encourage businesses to cooperate?  Hmm; that’s a deep thought. Any final, less dismal words of wisdom?

 

S.  Ah, yes. “The uniform, constant and uninterrupted effort of every man to better his condition, the principle from which public and national, as well as private opulence is originally derived, is frequently powerful enough to maintain the natural progress of things toward improvement, in spite both of the extravagance of government, and of the greatest errors of administration. Like the unknown principle of animal life, it frequently restores health and vigour to the constitution, in spite, not only of the disease, but of the absurd prescriptions of the doctor.”

 

R:  Dr. Smith, thank you. I already feel better. My prescription for you is to stick around. Can you stay? I could use some help running this Free Market Center, and perhaps add a real photo of you in the economics hallway in Patriots.

 

S:  Unfortunately not: I’ve pledged not to settle my particular estate until my dear mother passes, and she seems destined to live a long and happy life.

 

……..

 

And with that adieu, Dr. Smith fades into the background, his “tea” unfinished, and his bachelorhood perpetual, but his book—well, that resides in Brookfield Academy’s library, in the economics rooms, and, of course, in the minds of a good many BA upperclassmen.