This is Leftist

[The Magistrate]

23. And He Does Not Even Get 'Wealth Of Nations' Right, Ma'am

Mr. Smith is adamant that taxation should bear more heavily on the wealthy than the poor, and gives particular prominence to taxes on inheritance of estates, viewing this as the only time a tax can be brought directly on wealth. He endorses government regulation of currency and credit, and laws requiring owners take measures for safety that benefit the public at their own cost, whether they wish to or no, as well as substantial interference with market mechanisms in the interests of a strong national defense or other national good.

Mr. Smith's objections to government interference in economic matters are objections to businessmen duping legislators into passing regulations which benefit their particular businesses, generally relaxations of taxes on them, or subsidies for their products, or increased taxes on, or withdrawl of subsidies from, their competitors. In short, he does not so much object to government as he does to successful lobbying and regulatory capture.

Mr. Smith is also at some pains to argue that wages paid to workmen ought not to be pitched at subsistence level, which was a common view at his time, but ought instead be sufficient to procure not only necessities of life, but some conveniences and comforts as well, and his definition of necessities was much more expansive than was usual for his time, extending far beyond merely sufficient rough food and clothing and shelter sufficient to keep breath in a body. His view of the 'necessities' of life amounted to what is required for a man not just to live but to live with a sense of well-being and self-respect.

"The laboring classes are of necessity the largest portion of society, and it is nonesense to argue that what benefits the greatest number injures the whole."