Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Liberty Fund
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780865970069ISBN:0865970068
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Sewn binding. 543 p. Inquiry Into the Nature & Causes of the Wealth of Nations, I. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Liberty Fund Inc
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780865970069ISBN:0865970068
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Liberty Fund
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780865970069ISBN:0865970068
Description: New. No dust jacket as issued. Brand new copy still factory sealed in plastic. Also have other volume. Really nice copy. Glued binding. 550 p. Inquiry Into the Nature & Causes of the Wealth of Nations, I. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Liberty Fund Inc., U. S
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780865970069ISBN:0865970068
Description: Good. Our aim is to create value for our customers through the provision of low cost, affordable products and an overall satisfying buying experience. read more
"There is a good reason why this is the only work on economics that is in the canon of Great Books. Smith was not just writing to promote his free market ideology. He was also exploring the manner in which human societies organize themselves to make use of their resources and human capital. Along with his famous insights about the division of labor and the invisible hand of the marketplace, Smith also covers banking, capital formation, the rise of towns, the role of agriculture, the proper and improper expenditures of the government, and many, many more subjects of contemporary interest. While long and filled with dull spots, including 90-page digressions on the price of silver and the Corn Laws, this book is often profound. If you think of yourself as an educated person, and like to mouth off about the economy, you cannot avoid reading this book. Read all the way through one time and then dip back in where you like."
"Bible of free market economics. By reading this, you start to analyze simple things in a way that sheds light on potential economic opportunity. After all, the free market is about people and nations having the right to pursue activities that wealth.
This book breaks down commonplace situations that involve making money, then shows the components that affect that situation. The legal environment, the population, the natural resources, etc... By understanding these components, one can make wiser and more efficient decisions in the pursuit of wealth.
When I see infomercials for real-estate selling kits or other money-making schemes, it reminds me how much people (including myself) can be driven by both ignorance and emotion rather than wisdom."
"Not an easy read but worth it if you want to understand one of the foundations of modern intellectual thought. This is where the study of economics started. Adam Smith notions of "division of labor" and "the invisible hand" and taxation still resonate today.
I caution against this as a fun read. If you think economics is "the dismal science" than stay far, far away. If you want to get an understanding of what all those pundits are quoting, and misquoting, put a big block of time aside and make this your bedside table reading. It may put you to sleep a few times but it will also wake you up to how an author writing 1776 is still relevant today."
""The Wealth of Nations" is the book that changed greed to a virtue instead of a sin.
In fact, greed is one of the Seven Deadly Sins in Christian theology. Greed is a sin in ALL the great religions, including Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, Buddhism, American Indian Spiritualism, Wiccan nature love, Bahá'í Faith, Gnosticism · · Rastafari,Samaritanism, Indian Ayyavazhi, Jainism, Sikhism Iranian Ahl-e Haqq, Manichaeism, Mazdak, Yazidi,Zoroastrianism, East Asian Confucianism, Taoism,Recent Cao Dai,Chondogyo, Neopaganism, New Age, Seicho-No-Ie, Tenrikyo, Unitarian Universalism Ethnic/Folk African, Ancient religions, Prehistoric Near East Egyptian, Semitic, Mesopotamian Indo-European Celtic, Germanic Illyro-thracian, Greek (Gnosticism · Neoplatonism), Mithraism, Vedic Hinduism . . . .
All these religions say greed is wrong. All these religions say you should not gather wealth at the expense of your neighbors. But this man Adam Smith says it is OK to do whatever is necessary to obtain wealth. Adam Smith says it is a good thing to allow your instinct toward selfishness to rule your life. He calls it Capitalism. And it works for a century or so before the robbed and disenfranchised revolt and kill off the greedy ones who rule society to their benefit.
Greed is the basis and essence of Capitalism, especially US Capitalism, in which every individual is guaranteed the "right to pursue happiness". Has anyone EVER questioned that? Why is more important to be happy than to know where you fit into the Grand Scheme? Why is more important to make money than to find and free your spirit? Look at any wealthy person who gained his or her wealth through competiton -do they have a healthy or unhealthy spirit?
In turning greed to virtue, Adam Smith has created an economic system that more accurately has been called "Social Darwinism". In other words, according to Smith, it is perfectly natural for the meanest, strongest, most clever individuals to gobble up so much capital that the great majority of people are left with crumbs.
The weakest of us "deserve" to be poor, according to Smith. The Bible and every civilized religion in the world disagree, saying greed is a sin because the individual chooses to be greedy even though he/she knows it will cause great shortages of money among the meek and powerless.
Capitalism therefore is a sin, not an acceptable economic system. So long as there exists a middle class nothing catastrophic should happen to the society embracing this sin. But right now the middleclass is disappearing in the USA (as it has in all empires), leaving only the few monsters at the top and everyone else in poverty.
Forgive me for reading and for using my mind to agree or disagree with the author. I know most of you are capitalist because you are citizens of the USA. I am frankly a disciple of Diogenes and believe we should all be free and enjoy life -- there is plenty to go around without getting into a harness and working yourself to death. Let's face it, communism would have worked if they'd killed off the hogs as they rose to power. There are always hogs in society -- it is the duty of society to keep them chained or jailed.
Adam Smith, to a real Christian, is Satan personified. How devious and clever to claim a sin is a virtue. I recommend reading this admittedly fascinating book because it is an explanation of why Rome, Great Britian, the Ottoman Empire, et al, in the end collapsed because of greed made a virtue.
Adam Smith eloquently and wittily pretends to be a friend to the common person. So does "Das Kapital" and "Mein Kampf".
I personally am not a communist, socialist nor capitalist. I'm absolutely a nobody and you can take that to your corrupt bank. I revel in the freedom of my mind! I am an old graybeard and have read a thousand books --I was cast out of the 20th Century for chastising lesser minds, indifferent minds. I have been driven mad -- but in that madness there has come a clarity. It is so bright and wonderful that I can see clearly what I could not see before.
I hope this will attract bitter diatribes (Webster: bitter and abusive writings) against me and my blanket condemnation of Adam Smith's dangerous book. That will mean that my words here have been read and considered. Is that too much to ask in this dispassionate world?"
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
