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Noam Chomsky on Budget & Economy Political Activist

Banks thrive due to bailouts, while people suffer recession

Doubtless there was some impact of the populist image crafted by the PR machine, but this appears to have had only a secondary role. The popular anger is quite understandable, with the banks thriving thanks to bailouts while the population remains in deep recession. Unemployment is at 10% and in manufacturing industry at the level of Great Depression, with one out of six unemployed, as was reported the day of the Massachusetts election

Adam Smith called for equality of outcome plus free market

Is it a law of nature that we must keep to these? Not if we take seriously the doctrines of classical liberalism. Adam Smith’s praise of division of labor is well known, but not his denunciation of its inhuman effects, which will turn people into objects, something that must be prevented by government action to overcome the destructive force of the “invisible hand.” Also not well advertised is Smith’s belief that government “regulation in favour of the workmen is always just and equitable,” though not “when in favour of the masters.” Or his call for equality of outcome, which was at the heart of his argument for free markets.