{"id":1625,"date":"2007-09-27T23:26:35","date_gmt":"2007-09-28T05:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dangerousintersection.org\/?p=1625"},"modified":"2007-10-01T00:20:08","modified_gmt":"2007-10-01T06:20:08","slug":"we-need-to-hunt-down-and-kill-adam-smith%e2%80%99s-invisible-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dangerousintersection.org\/2007\/09\/27\/we-need-to-hunt-down-and-kill-adam-smith%e2%80%99s-invisible-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"We need to hunt down and kill Adam Smith\u2019s Invisible Hand."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Why fear the Invisible Hand?\u00a0 Because the invisible hand is <em>evil<\/em>.\u00a0 As construed by those conservatives currently in power, it is the economic equivalent of the Devil.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This conclusion is going to come as a shock to many conservatives, because they give homage to the invisible hand as though it were <a href=\"http:\/\/dangerousintersection.org\/?p=81\" target=\"_blank\">the Fourth Person of the Holy Quartet.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Before going further, let\u2019s consider the literary origin of &#8220;the invisible hand.&#8221;\u00a0 The phrase was coined by Adam Smith, as <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Invisible_hand\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recounted by Wikipedia:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>In The Wealth of Nations and other writings, Smith claims that, in capitalism, an individual pursuing his own self-interest tends to also promote the good of his community as a whole through a principle that he called \u201cthe invisible hand\u201d. In detail, a free competitive market ensures that those goods and services perceived as most beneficial, efficient, or of highest quality will naturally be those that are most profitable. Thus, self-interest striving for profit has the side-effect of benefiting everyone by increasing standards. Smith saw the mechanism for this as being the free price system.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Conservatives have grabbed this metaphor of the invisible hand as though it were both descriptive and prescriptive.\u00a0 The current use of the phrase by conservatives is admittedly more expanded than Adam Smith&#8217;s original use.\u00a0 The modern conservative\u00a0claim is not only that the invisible hand controls the economy.\u00a0 They also claim that the invisible hand <em>should<\/em> be in charge.\u00a0 They believe that millions of private purchasing decisions are automatically and deftly coordinated by the omniscient and omnipotent Invisible Hand. We do the bidding of the Hand.\u00a0 We benefit \u201cthe good of the community as a whole\u201d when we buy our whiskey, our triple cheeseburgers, our stacks of gambling chips, our Barbie Dolls and our Hummers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Conservatives are convinced that the Hand orchestrates all of our private local urges into decisions that are also \u201cbest\u201d for our communities and our world. When we race out to buy anything at all, then, the Invisible Hand allegedly smiles Its approval. To violate the Will of the Invisible Hand would be to contravene the will of God, for conservatives.\u00a0 Lucky for us, however, even our most impulsive seemingly-irresponsible purchases cannot, by definition, violate the Will of the Invisible Hand.\u00a0 Everything we buy is pre-approved by the Invisible Hand.\u00a0 Foolishness is the equivalent of intelligence, by the grace of the Invisible Hand.<\/p>\n<p>To be socially responsible (according to conservatives), we don\u2019t need to give any thought to our purchase decisions.\u00a0 Nor does government need to regulate any industry.\u00a0 It\u2019s all taken care of by the Hand.\u00a0 \u201cThe Free Market will take care of it,\u201d conservatives assure me, \u201cno matter what it is.\u201d\u00a0 It is the Government that screws up the economy; the remedy is to stay out of the way of the healing powers of lassie faire, they say, i.e., kill government spending.\u00a0 When we stay out of the way (by not interfering with the Majesty of the Hand), the Invisible Hand watches out for us, takes care of us and solves all problems in an utterly perfect way.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s what conservatives claim, even though they dramatically\u00a0and irresponsibly <em>increase<\/em> government spending.<\/p>\n<p>I disagree.\u00a0 It\u2019s time to judge the Invisible Hand by the damage It has wrought. It\u2019s time to be irreverent, even blasphemous.\u00a0 It\u2019s time to mock the Hand and then kill it.<\/p>\n<p>Under the Hand\u2019s reign, we have seen our forests, soil and air contaminated.\u00a0 The Hand has repeatedly given Its approval when we frivolously waste non-renewable resources like oil and fresh water.\u00a0 The Hand has is conspicuosly silent now, however, in light of the total loss of commercial quality fish from most of the North Atlantic. The Hand approves that we are spending big money on foolishly while many of our schools are desperate for funds.\u00a0 The Hand has allowed pesticides and toxins spread far and wide, despite the fact that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.harpers.org\/archive\/2007\/10\/0081742\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">we have almost no idea how these chemicals are affecting the health of humans.<\/a>\u00a0Our individual spending decisions are making us fat and sick and stupid, but that\u2019s all OK by the Hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>All of this can only lead to one conclusion. The Invisible Hand is not benevolent.\u00a0 Based on the waste, pollution and reckless spending allowed by the Hand, it is clear that the Hand is <em>evil<\/em>.\u00a0 It\u2019s time to publicly acknowledge the Hand\u2019s evil and destructive intent so that we can make some big changes.\u00a0 What\u2019s the biggest change?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><strong>We\u2019re going to have to start thinking for ourselves when we make purchases.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We can\u2019t depend on the Invisible Hand to keep us &#8220;helping&#8221; our communities in blissful ignorance anymore.\u00a0 No purchase should any longer simply be presumed to be beneficial&#8211;many purchases are damaging to the community and to our environment. There needs to be a counter-weight to private decisions to consume and confiscate.\u00a0 No purchase should any longer be considered completely local&#8211;many products have wide-ranging damaging effects.\u00a0 Nor should purchases any longer be presumed, in the absence of evidence,\u00a0to be community-enhancing or amoral.\u00a0 Many private purchases are destructive and\u00a0immoral.\u00a0We need to acknowledge that dollars are not fungible and that <a href=\"http:\/\/dangerousintersection.org\/?p=279\" target=\"_blank\">every purchase has moral consequences.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>We need to start thinking more when we make purchases, or else we will continue to crap up our planet to such an incredible extent that the next generation will curse us every day for our failure to think.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s time to kick the fiction of the Benevolent Invisible Hand out of our lexicon.\u00a0 But first, it is time to expose the Hand for what it has become for too many people who currently hold political power: The Invisible Hand is an excuse for our collective refusal to think, our failure to care about others and our failure to care about even our own future.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The current version of the Invisible Hand amounts to a total abdication of responsibility. It is a license to hurt others and destroy our own future. It\u2019s time to kill the Hand before it kills us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why fear the Invisible Hand?\u00a0 Because the invisible hand is evil.\u00a0 As construed by those conservatives currently in power, it is the economic equivalent of the Devil.\u00a0 This conclusion is going to come as a shock to many conservatives, because they give homage to the invisible hand as though it were the Fourth Person of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,21,7],"tags":[883,6450,885,6451,90,6437,884,520,886],"class_list":["post-1625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-culture","category-economy","category-good-and-evil","tag-adam-smith","tag-american-culture","tag-decisions","tag-economy","tag-god","tag-good-and-evil","tag-invisible-hand","tag-purchase","tag-responsible","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dangerousintersection.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dangerousintersection.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dangerousintersection.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dangerousintersection.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dangerousintersection.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dangerousintersection.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dangerousintersection.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dangerousintersection.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dangerousintersection.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}