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… is from page 34 of the late Don Lavoie’s great 1985 book Rivalry and Central Planning [2]:
One cannot arbitrarily choose the attributes of capitalism that one wishes to retain and set aside the attributes that one does not like.
DBx: Don’s point here is not as mundane as it might at first appear. The airwaves, blogosphere, newspapers, and campaign trail overflow with proposals, for example, to protect this or that group from competition while simultaneously promising – or at least hoping for – continued economic growth. Too few people realize that successful pursuit of the first objective reduces the prospects of the second, and that complete success at achieving the first objective would not only ensure that all economic growth ceases, but that the economy would collapse.