Sunday, February 12, 2012

A Little Philosophizing...

Nothing beats philosophizing with your kids... My oldest, a senior finance major at Fresno State and full time PWA staff member, is intuitively alert to the structure of the institutions, like the NBA, that peak his interest...

During a recent session we both marveled at how the system continues to work, how products and services (and entertainment) are produced, sold and distributed throughout the world... How we feel relatively safe and optimistic while the world's leaders, its so-called policymakers, seem so desperately inept... While coercion and collusion are so readily evident in the policymaking process...

A daunting query (how indeed our system works) for sure... The answer, however, as I once again counseled young Nicholas (and you frequently herein), is wonderfully simple... No PhD in economics is required to understand what glue, secularly speaking, holds this crazy world together... It would be, as Adam Smith so wonderfully put in his 1776 masterpiece An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations;

"....and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he 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. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it."

Think about it, think about what motivates you to action... Not purely, or even primarily, in a financial sense, but in terms of in whose interest [in every sense] you're ultimately motivated... It is indeed a paradox... For we forever act in our own interest - yet - whether we're talking parentally or professionally, truly pursing our own interest, without exception, means acting in the best interests of others...

What we need therefore is freedom unfettered. I.e., maximum options - opportunities to pursue our own interests... Now I'm not talking anarchy; in fact I would argue that we do need government to adjudicate situations where confused, and/or corrupt, individuals deem harming others to be in their personal interest... We "need" government to handle those things we determine would be best handled collectively... Those things, however, would be substantially fewer in number than our policymakers would have us believe - and therein lies our greatest challenge going forward...

And yes, I fear I have brought into this world yet another fanatic for free markets... My son has developed uniquely (for his age) keen senses... He continually points to the ills of central planning... To the root causes of what ails our country; essentially the perverse incentives born in the hearts of pandering politicians... For my part I must continue to point him to the basic good of the individual... To take heart in the reality that all things (even populous and political trends) flow within their own seasons... That he is to seek opportunity wherever it may lie, opportunity to serve others... And to simply look around... To look at this wonderful world, study its history, and see, here and now, how far we've come...

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