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Three Volumes, As Issued. Complete With All Preliminary Blanks In All Volumes, Cancels X5 And X8 In Volume 3. Contemporary Calf, New But Old Style Black Morocco Labels, Gilt In All Compartments. 8Vo. The Preeminent Classic Of Economic Thought, Now Scarce In All Early Editions. This Is The Sixth Edition, One Of 2000 Copies, Identical To The Last Revision By Smith And The First Published After His Death. Worn, Extremities Rubbed, Spines Chipped Away At Top And Bottom Edges, Apparently Repaired At Some Time; Leather Recently Conditioned, Furbished, Minor Repairs To Corners. Corporate Bookplates In All Volumes. A "Printing And The Mind Of Man" Title. Human Greeds Tend To Cancel Each Other Out, And Are Dangerous Only When Government Interferes On One Side Or Another. Thus, Government Has No Role To Play In Using Military Force Or Diplomatic Resources To Protect Foreign Trade Although, Of Course, No Self-Proclaimed Adam Smith Acolyte Politician Would Agree Despite Their Justifications Of Liberalism, Free Trade, Democracy, Etc. : The Greed Of Politicians, The Primary Fact Of Modern Life, Was Not Fully Anticipated By Smith. The Main Point That Is Usually Cited From Smith?S Long Work (4 Volumes), Neglecting 99% Of His Analysis, Focuses Only On The Idea That Unrestricted Free Trade Is Better. Modern Interpretations Further Claim That Free Trade Is Always Better, And Should Be The Primary Goal- Period, That It Is An Absolute Necessity. A Thought Experiment Can Show How That Is Ridiculous. Imagine A World Where A Country Spends Far More On Sex Tourism Overseas Than On Purchasing Anything Else. The Sex Workers Overseas Will Spend Some Money On That Country?S Services And Goods , But If There Is An Unbalanced Outflow, Most Of The Money In The ?Purchasing? Country Will End Up In The ?Selling Country?. The Purchasing Country Has Nothing To Show In The Long Term For All Those Transitory Pleasures It Purchased, And The Country Will Dissolve As It Can No Longer Pay The Normal Everyday Debts Of Government And Private Activity. One Can Listen To Professional Economists That Say That Is Not True, But If It Is Not True, Why Do The Unfunded Debts Of Federal, State, And Local Governments Worldwide Keep Going Up, And Why Can?T Governments Worldwide Come Up With Working Budgets? The Problem Is Not Just In Regulation, It Is Also A Problem Of Too Much Consumption. If That Analysis Is Wrong, Where Is A Country That Can Provide A Current Budget That Is Based On Receipts Rather Than Expectations? And When Have Those Expectations Ever Been Correct Over, Say A Century, In World History? Economists Are Not Historians, They Are Bureaucratic Advisors Who Sell Their Advice That Is Not Based On Long-Term Evidence, Have Themselves Never Built Anything That Endures, Can Point To No Physical Evidence That They Understand How The World Works, And Have No Responsibilities When Things Fail. Every Empire, And Every Government, Fails When It Can No Longer Pay Enough To Sustain And Defend Itself. The Best Interpretation Of The Free Trade Argument Is That Free Trade Is Better For Most Businesses That Make Money From Selling, And That In Itself Is Better For Society. If That In Itself Is Better Than Not Having Free Trade, If Free Trade Is The Highest Principle In And Of Itself, Then Slavery, Imperialist Warfare, Dictatorship, Poisonous And Unhealthy Food, Pollution, And The Destruction Of Every Natural Thing Become Acceptable, So Long As Free Trade Exists. We May Look Forward To Seeing Articles From Economists That Defend That Position, And Also To Detailed Budgets For National, State And City Governments That Is Within The Boundaries Of Their Receipts. Absent That, We Must At Least Consider That Whatever Professional Advisors Say, There Is An Issue In The Real World Of ?Government Budgets?, And We Are Left To Consider What Is The System Of Trade Laws That Make It More Likely That We Will In The Foreseeable Future Have Balanced Them.
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