The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible - Bastiat Institute

Most poverty in the
world today is caused
by government laws,
not ignorance.
Mary Ruwart in
Healing Our World
? There is nothing
new in recession.
Thousands of years
ago Noah managed
to fl oat a limited
company when the
rest of the world was
going into
liquidation.
Chapter 10 • The Dream Machine
Background
Laws heaped on production in the West during
the late 20th century resulted in producers
moving to the Isles of NIE – Newly Industrialised
Economies – such as Singapore, Hong Kong,
Taiwan, and South Korea.
When a company whose headquarters is in
one country, builds a factory in another country,
that company is said to be making a foreign
investment. This process is sometimes called
globalisation. Many people who protest against
globalisation say that it unfairly exploits the
NIEs by paying lower wages than their country
does. However, the residents of the NIEs do not
see themselves as exploited. For them it means a
great opportunity for them to become wealthier.
“Kayns” is a veiled reference to the British
economist John Maynard Keynes. It is the printing
of money that makes possible his “spend more,
tax less defi cit” fi nancing. Samuel Gompers
was the founder of the Congress of Industrial
Organizations labour unions in the U.S.
References
Tanstaafl – There Ain’t No Such Thing As A
Free Lunch. The novel The Moon is a Harsh
Mistress by Robert Heinlein, is a science fi ction
story about a libertarian colony on the moon.
Two of the characters go into a bar where they
see a sign “Free Drinks”. One says to the other,
“If the drinks weren’t free, the food would be
half price! TANSTAAFL!”
I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard
E. Read shows the fascinating example of how
voluntary exchange enables millions of people
to co-operate with one another just to make a
pencil.
In Rigoberto Stewart’s Limón Real one can
read how economical dreams are possible.
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