The principal function of government is to maintain civil order, domestic 
tranquility and security from external threats and forces.  Governments, 
however, have been usurped by ambitious political interests that assert 
their own agenda from which they profit.  Democracies are particularly 
vulnerable in this respect.  The Weimar government in post WWI Germany 
illustrates this quite well.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerhard Fiedler" <lists@connectionbrazil.com>
To: <piclist@mit.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2007 6:19 PM
Subject: Re: [OT]: Free trade again (was [OT] Employment, resumes,and green 
cards: the bomb)


> Vitaliy wrote:
>
>>> 1. The government is charged by the public to maintain and improve the
>>> economy of the country.
>>
>> As Cedric has pointed out, it's not the government's job to maintain and
>> improve the economy. Not in a capitalist country, anyway.
>
> I think what Adam might have meant with "maintain and improve" is "set the
> rules for it to work and prosper". A capitalist country needs a lot of
> rules to work; capitalism is not anarchy.
>
>> The real solution to "soften the blow" and protect the workers, is to
>> give them an education. In reality, it is many times cheaper to give
>> every one of the steel workers free college education, than to keep them
>> employed in the steel mill.
>
> It's funny how this both applies to many similar (and at first sight not 
> so
> similar) situations, and at the same time seems to be so difficult to
> implement.
>
> (One of the "at first sight not so similar situations" I'm thinking of is
> the War on Drugs. It seems to be vastly cheaper to provide the addicts 
> with
> proper care in a world where drugs are commercially available than to
> maintain this war.)
>
>> Trade is not a zero-sum game. Everybody who plays the game, wins. You sow
>> millions of dollars into another country's economy, and that country 
>> turns
>> around and sows millions into yours.
>
> It's funny how the "dependency on foreign countries" argument rarely is
> taken up by the powers when it comes to increasing the public debt (which
> is provided in part by foreign countries :)
>
> Gerhard
>
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