13 Comments

I suspect Diocletian was a Democrat..............................

Expand full comment

Contrary to a commonly held caricature, Adam Smith was as much social psychologist as economist and his philosophy was certainly not one of valorising greed. His profound insight was that a combination of two of mankind’s primary driving forces – self-interest and ‘natural sympathy’ – working together could be an “invisible hand” guiding it towards a collective thriving....... as these two quotes illustrate:

"He [ie mankind] 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."

"How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it."

https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/globalism-vs-national-conservatism

Expand full comment

I made an 11 minute animated video a while back, highlighting some historical examples of price controls: https://youtu.be/uDosqkJaXBk

Expand full comment

Apparently, Harris' plan also includes improving competition, too. We'll have to see how that rolls out.

Expand full comment

Do you actually fall for a single bit of this propaganda? The housing plan is little other than a copy-and-paste of Newsom's abject failure in California . The price controls for medicines guarantee shortages, as has already happened as the direct result Senile Joe-Kamala's destructive policies. This entire link is nonsensical, a train wreck, though not necessarily in slow motion.

Expand full comment

Well Sir, why don't you explain to the class all the "shortages" in insulin after it was lowered to a copay cap of $35 per month?? Show me a few links to those stories on insulin shortages since the lower copay cap was put into effect in January and July of '23??? I'd Love to see all those stories on "insulin shortages"

Expand full comment

You don't just put links up, without reading them, your first link says:

"the beginning of April, citing a 'brief delay in manufacturing.' " Price controls/lower profit margins do not cause manufacturing errors.

Your 2nd link, is a nonsensical advertisement, barely qualifying as even a link.

Your 3rd link says this: "Three insulin products are currently in shortage, but all other insulin products are in good supply, including alternatives for the limited products."

Mr. Burnson, maybe you should read YOUR OWN links before posting them??

Expand full comment

I did. That you oppose reality in any and every form is your problem, not mine. Several sources report insulin shortages, none report that the flow has been reinstated; you failed to provide any, either. Further, immediate shortages are not typical because there was material in supply at the time that Biden's malfeasance caused future shortages. No one wrote that shortages would be instantaneous, but they pretty much were.

Expand full comment

Something is either instantaneous or it's not. It's not "pretty much" instantaneous. Are you a Chinese English learner??

Expand full comment

Adam smith does not cover the artifacts of gamifying or cartels, because he works on idealistic assumptions characteristic of the enlightenment. He should have known better, since he could easily watch the corrosive effect of the East India company, which effectively strangled Westminster parliament and was frankly "too big to fail." In fact, I blame the EIC as a major instigating factor for the occurence of the American revolution as such.

But when food and housing providers acquire the size and power to skew political decision makers (I need to check of the Corn Law controversies of the mid 1800s are a public or a private sector problem), the consumers face the problems of an inelastic market. Starvation and homelessness are never good consumer choices. Perhaps you have experienced either?

Therefore, unless a social contract exists that safeguards the wards of an inelastic market, get ready! "Marie Antoinette called. She wants her head back."

Expand full comment

I made a Diocletian price controls related comment on the back cover of the JPE a couple of years ago (also sparked by Mike Duncan's podcast).

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/720996

Expand full comment