Tuesday, July 18, 2023

When Enemies Trade

There seems to be a belief among the Pittsburgh fans that an infusion of stalwarts from an average AAA team is going to arrive and be competitive in the majors.

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The only safeguard of liberty is the restraint of power itself.--Nutter


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Racial preferences starkly divide academia from the public; 74 percent of the public (including majorities of Democrats and Black Americans) opposes racial preference in hiring and admission.

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The number of Americans living in Spain grew by 13% from 2019 to 2021, and home sales to Americans jumped 88% from the first half of 2019 to the first half of 2022, according to a report by the General Council of Notaries in Spain.


When Enemies Trade

It is impossible for a country to have, at the same time, the largest possible population and the qualitatively best, the largest possible industry and the greatest possible independence in food and raw materials, if this must be brought about by all kinds of governmental intervention. Too much doctoring of the economic structure of a country is the surest way to make it less fit even for military purposes…. To sum up, even if unrestricted armaments have to be accepted as something inevitable, Liberalism has no need to surrender. -- Wilhelm Röpke’s February 1935 Economica paper, “Fascist Economics":

So, adds Bordeaux, "Only in the short run might there be a trade-off between the freedom of markets, including the freedom of international trade, and a country’s military might. In the long-run, the freer are markets – and the freer is international trade – the greater is the country’s material prosperity, as well as the spirit of enterprise, innovation, and commercial and industrial discipline that are necessary (if such is the goal) to produce the most effective weapons in the greatest possible abundance."

I understand the general principle, but it seems to be limited by the assumption that the traders are partners motivated by self-interested advancement, not competitive malice who are planning, in addition to personal success, the destruction of the partner. That seems a big distortion for free trade to smooth out.

1 comment:

Custer said...

FREEDOM OF THE PEOPLE REQIES. FREEDOM OF THE MARKET