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Quotation of the Day…

… is from page 148 of the late, great Wesleyan University economic historian Stanley Lebergott’s phenomenal 1984 book, The Americans: An Economic Record (footnotes deleted):

The ironworks incorporations suggest that the Tariff of 1828 drew perhaps seventeen additional textile factories into the field. Among them were two giants: Appleton and Lowell. The total additional investment cam to $1.2 million. Hence, the $40 million total investment in the industry was increased by only 3 percent in 1828 by the notorious Tariff of Abominations. A host of entrepreneurs and capitalists put their money into other industries; the great boon provided by that tariff was evidently not as great as the years of rhetoric had suggested.

DBx: Protectionists see only that which is most obvious. “Oh look!” they exclaim, “see how the tariff on widgets brought about more widget production in our country?! Protectionism works!” This intellectual move is the equivalent of observing the loot of a successful bank robber and then concluding that robbing banks is a means of national enrichment.

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