Thursday, February 4, 2010

#12 Economics in One Lesson-Day One



Last night I was laying in bed with a miserable cold that I managed to contract last week and my stuffy nose and achy body would not let me sleep. So I turned on the light and picked up Henry Hazlitt's Economics in one lesson and started to read. What can I say, It's actually kind of interesting. The basic premise so far is that everyone out there is cuckoo. We have been taught that situations that create need, such as war, that appear to boost the economy have actually just diverted need. The demand for new homes, factories, and cars after a country has been demolished by war is a falsely created demand that would not have been there without the destruction. Had the country not have experienced war, there would have been a true demand for homes, cars, TVs, refrigerators, and other stuff because the people there would have been in the economic situation to have those things.
I am sure that is a poor explanation of what Hazlitt is trying to say, but I am only on the 2nd chapter. I will let you know if my understanding gets any less fuzzy.

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