The founder of capitalism, who died 28 years before Karl Marx was born, was a dirty stinking commie.

[Fumesucker]

Edit because I cannot write a simple sentence without somehow screwing it up.. :)

[kestrel91316]

1. EXCELLENT!!! (slapppppp)

[ColbertWatcher]

2. Spelling is for commies! And so is punctuation".." k+r, n/t

[htuttle]

3. Most people who quote Adam Smith have never actually read Adam Smith

He was definitely no Gordon Gecko...

[Fumesucker]

5. Most people who quote the Bible haven't actually read the Bible, either..

Isn't it strange how the two sets of people who quote stuff they've never read overlap so much?

[glitch]

7. Dang you beat me by 10 minutes! Pretty sad when it takes 10 minutes to compose a two line post.

Oh well, at least we agree completely, that's always nice. :)

[Fumesucker]

9. Heh... I noticed that.. Great minds think alike, eh? n/t

[glitch]

6. Those same people quote the Bible without ever having read it.

And Darwin especially comes in for a lot of shallow reference. They'll reference anyone or anything that carries some authority in hopes they'll appear authoritative. Actually reading them and God forbid comprehending them, well that's far too much trouble and not very interesting anyway.

Furthermore they'd have to pass on the party circuit a couple of nights a week, which can't be risked because what would they miss? Someone might take their place in the pecking order.

Schmucks.

[eridani]

4. That isn't really true, IMO

I think he's actually a pre-capitalist philosopher.

[Fumesucker]

8. Yep, that's why he is referred to as "the father of capitalism"..

Smith was a, if not the, seminal figure in capitalism, it existed before him but he defined it and provided a philosophical foundation that was lacking up to that point.

[eridani]

12. I actually think he was talking about his own contemporary society--

--which was not yet capitalist.

[Fumesucker]

13. People did not accumulate capital in Smith's time?

There were not rich and poor?

Capitalism certainly has existed for a very long time, even if no one thought to call it capitalism.

[eridani]

16. There were rich and poor in the Roman Empire, but there was no capitalism

When wealth derives from land ownership, that's called feudalism. When wealth derives from ownership of the means of production, with employees having no options to own their own means of production, that's capitalism. Smith was in a transition period where lots of people owned their own means of production.

[kwassa]

17. any Roman merchant that sold goods was a capitalist

Smith was the first theorist of capitalism; but the practice has been around since the beginning of human society and when they started to trade with one another.

[eridani]

18. Capitalism is in no way related to trade. It's about who owns the means of production n/t

[T_i_B]

19. I always think of the Wealth of Nations as a work of observation.

Looking at how an economy works (and how it sometimes doesn't)

It was comprehensive and perceptive enough to turn economics into something approaching a science, thus helping people understand what's happening in the world. And that's why he's on the £20 note in the UK.

[JanMichael]

10. Was going to not post, too sleepy, but DAMN!

Last post tonight - way to smack down the idiot repukes.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. K&R

[NM Independent]

14. HA! All my recent talking points gathered in one place...

Sweet!

I'll have to print this out.

[nichomachus]

15. Adam Smith -- probably the most misquoted person in America today

He never said what people said he said. This quote is accurate, but when the corporatists quote him, they invariably get it wrong.