• innerwar@lemmy.caEnglish
    9·
    2 months ago

    He was against landlord on principle. Even he knew the parasites that would come out of them. Let me see if I can get a quote that summed him up nicely from his book “wealth of economics”

    • innerwar@lemmy.caEnglish
      11·
      2 months ago

      “As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce. The wood of the forest, the grass of the field, and all the natural fruits of the earth, which, when land was in common, cost the labourer only the trouble of gathering them, come, even to him, to have an additional price fixed upon them. He must then pay for the licence to gather them, and must give up to the landlord a portion of what his labour either collects or produces. This portion, or, what comes to the same thing, the price of this portion, constitutes the rent of land, and in the price of the greater part of commodities, makes a third”

                                      ― Adam Smith, quote from The Wealth of Nations

      Couldn’t find exactly where from the book it’s from unfortunately, freakonomics has a good series on him. It was the university of Chicago that perverted his messege

  • Sharkticon@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    Adam Smith said a lot of things. I’m not sure if he actually believed them though. Lot of men in the 18th century said things and turns out they were Liars. Hell look at Thomas Jefferson probably the world’s greatest hypocrite. Whole lot of people in that era like to make big sweeping pronouncements about things they didn’t actually believe in their real life.