Bonus Quotation of the Day…

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… is from page 716 of the late, great Paul Heyne’s excellent Winter 1983/84 Cato Journal article, “Do Trade Deficits Matter?” (ellipses original to Heyne; footnote deleted):

I think Adam Smith was right. “Nothing … can be more absurd than this whole doctrine of the balance of trade.” It is a concept originally devised and promulgated by merchants in order to promote their special interests under the pretense of protecting the national interest, And a government that tries to watch over the balance of trade has embarked upon a task that is intricate, embarrassing, and fruitless.