Friday, March 7, 2014

Quotation of the day on how government rescuing people from the market subjects them to dictates of third parties

From Mark Perry of "Carpe Diem."
". is from Thomas Sowell’s book “Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy” on p. 565 in the chapter “Myths About Markets”:
Perhaps the biggest myth about markets comes from the name itself. We tend to think of a market as a thing when in fact it is people engaging in economic transactions among themselves on whatever terms their mutual accommodations lead to. A market in this sense can be contrasted with central planning or government regulation. Too often, however, when a market is conceived of as a thing, it is regarded as an impersonal mechanism, when in fact it is as personal as the people in it. This misconception allows third parties to seek to take away the freedom of individuals to transact with one another on mutually agreeable terms, and to depict this restriction of their freedom as rescuing people from the “dictates” of the impersonal market, when in fact this would be subjecting them to the dictates of third parties.
Exhibit A: The minimum wage law, which allegedly rescues unskilled and low skilled workers by taking away their freedom to transact with employers on mutually agreeable terms and subjecting them to the whimsical dictates of third parties like President Obama."

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