A Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 18 “Conclusion: Still Spinning After All These Years” I have really enjoyed this book because Foster is asking the questions I have had. Why do we bite the Invisible Hand? Why are people not more aware or concerned that…
Tag: Aristocratic Deal
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Philanthrocapitalism Pleases the Donors; Policies are Pushed onto the Recipients
Part 2 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 17 “Bill Gates and the Pitfalls of Philanthrocapitalism” Foster next turns to Bill Gates’ call for a “creative capitalism” that he saw as a new form that would merge the ideas of caring for others…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Using a Green Wrapper and Moralistic Hyperbole to Cover Anti-Capitalism
A Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 16 “The Greenest Businessman in America” Foster examines the expression of anti-capitalism through the promotion of environmentalism in this chapter. He focuses on one businessman in particular, but uses him as an example to suggest that the movement…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Do We Want the Government Nudging Us?
Part 2 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 12 “Homer Economicus” In the last blog, we explored Foster’s critique of behavioral economics, and now we will see how its incorrect diagnosis of the problems in economics has led to conclusions for more economic…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Free Market Economics Requires Trusting What You Cannot See
Part 2 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 9 “The Invisible Metaphor” In the last blog, we examined the meaning of the Invisible Hand metaphor. Now we want to look at several who challenged its ability. Adam Darwin Foster discusses a lecture by…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Bernard Mandeville’s Dark Take on Commerce and the Persistence of Flawed Ideas
Part 2 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 6 “Tuesdays with Mandeville” As introduced in the last blog, Bernard Mandeville pioneered writing about the hypocrisy he thought was endemic to commerce that was a conversation happily continued by many to follow. Foster dives…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Penning Hypocrisy: Writers Making Money Criticizing Capitalism
Part 1 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 6 “Tuesdays with Mandeville” Foster is tracing anti-capitalist thought across many writers of the West, and in this chapter he hits one I had not heard of: Bernard Mandeville who was born in 1670 in…
Bourgeois Equality
The Elite Replaced the Bourgeois Deal with Ones that Put Them in Charge
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 63 “The Clerisy Betrayed the Bourgeois Deal, and Approved the Bolshevik and Bismarckian Deals” Finally, we reach the chapter that explains what Dr. McCloskey has been alluding to throughout the book about the clerisy’s change in rhetoric against the Bourgeois Deal. What she calls the clerisy…
Bourgeois Equality
Knowing the Source of the Great Enrichment Is Crucial
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 56 “The Change in Ideas Contradicts Many Ideas from the Political Middle, 1890–1980” Not only is this chapter starting Part 9 out of 10 of Dr. McCloskey’s book, but these last 2 parts are addressing the fourth, and last, big question: What are the…
Bourgeois Equality
Our Language Shows Historic, and Current, Disdain for the Bourgeois
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 46 “The Hostility was Ancient” Dr. McCloskey continues her exploration of the negative attitude that has existed over time towards trading and profits started last chapter. Trading and profit making and entrepreneurship and betterment have been more or less despised by the aristocracy in pastoral…