I sort of didn’t want to, but I felt obligated to try to finish my conversation with Henry. The last thing he told me was that “Many of the ideas which now pass for brilliant innovations and advances are in fact mere revivals of ancient errors, and a further proof of the dictum that those who are ignorant of the past are condemned to repeat it”.
Well, I had given that some thought. I came to the conclusion that there was at least one way to prove that he was talking through his hat. I would nail him on necessary government spending and taxes.
So, the next time I saw Henry, I said, very smugly, “Henry, let me ask you about, what is to me, one of the highest profile activities of government: taxation. Without taxation, a government can’t function. How do the fallacies you were talking about before operate to affect how a government collects and spends tax money? Then, I sat back and waited for Henry to crash and burn.
Henry paused for a moment, and then said, “There is no more persistent and influential faith in the world today than the faith in government spending. Everywhere government spending is presented as a panacea for all our economic ills. An enormous literature is based on this fallacy, and, as so often happens with doctrines of this sort, it has become part of an intricate network of fallacies that mutually support each other.”
My mind began to race a bit as I thought to myself, “This is not exactly what I was looking for, but I think I can handle it”. So, I said, “Well, Henry, I’m kind of up on networks, so tell me what you mean”.
After another short pause, Henry said, “We cannot explore that whole network at this point…But we can examine here the mother fallacy that has given birth to this progeny, the main stem of the network.”
I thought, “I won’t let him dodge this one”, so I said, “What has this got to do with mothers, and what is main stem?”
Henry, leaned back and said, “Everything we get, outside of the free gifts of nature, must in some way be paid for”.
Now, I had him. “No kidding, Dick Tracy, everybody knows that. There’s a really old expression that goes, ‘there’s no free lunch’” Everybody knows you can’t get something for nothing”.
I didn’t like the expression that came onto Henry’s face after I said that. It wasn’t a smirk exactly, but I think it could have been the suggestion of one. “Do spiders smirk?”, I wondered. He was way too calm. Henry’s calmness was really giving me a pain, but I waited for him to respond, which he did.
He said, “The world is full of so-called economists who in turn are full of schemes for getting something for nothing. They tell us that the government can spend and spend without taxing at all; that it can continue to pile up debt without ever paying it off, because “we owe it to ourselves.”
I thought, “Well, yeah. If the government spends money, it just goes into the economy. What could be wrong with that?” So, I told him what I was thinking.
Now, Henry smiled...not a good sign for me. I didn’t expect what he said next: “such pleasant dreams in the past have always been shattered by national insolvency or a runaway inflation.”
“Oh, no, Henry”, I howled, thinking, as I said it, that I sounded like Ray Barone’s Cousin Gerard. “You did it to me again. I’m outta here. I’ve got to think it over before I can respond to that one.”
Well, I had given that some thought. I came to the conclusion that there was at least one way to prove that he was talking through his hat. I would nail him on necessary government spending and taxes.
So, the next time I saw Henry, I said, very smugly, “Henry, let me ask you about, what is to me, one of the highest profile activities of government: taxation. Without taxation, a government can’t function. How do the fallacies you were talking about before operate to affect how a government collects and spends tax money? Then, I sat back and waited for Henry to crash and burn.
Henry paused for a moment, and then said, “There is no more persistent and influential faith in the world today than the faith in government spending. Everywhere government spending is presented as a panacea for all our economic ills. An enormous literature is based on this fallacy, and, as so often happens with doctrines of this sort, it has become part of an intricate network of fallacies that mutually support each other.”
My mind began to race a bit as I thought to myself, “This is not exactly what I was looking for, but I think I can handle it”. So, I said, “Well, Henry, I’m kind of up on networks, so tell me what you mean”.
After another short pause, Henry said, “We cannot explore that whole network at this point…But we can examine here the mother fallacy that has given birth to this progeny, the main stem of the network.”
I thought, “I won’t let him dodge this one”, so I said, “What has this got to do with mothers, and what is main stem?”
Henry, leaned back and said, “Everything we get, outside of the free gifts of nature, must in some way be paid for”.
Now, I had him. “No kidding, Dick Tracy, everybody knows that. There’s a really old expression that goes, ‘there’s no free lunch’” Everybody knows you can’t get something for nothing”.
I didn’t like the expression that came onto Henry’s face after I said that. It wasn’t a smirk exactly, but I think it could have been the suggestion of one. “Do spiders smirk?”, I wondered. He was way too calm. Henry’s calmness was really giving me a pain, but I waited for him to respond, which he did.
He said, “The world is full of so-called economists who in turn are full of schemes for getting something for nothing. They tell us that the government can spend and spend without taxing at all; that it can continue to pile up debt without ever paying it off, because “we owe it to ourselves.”
I thought, “Well, yeah. If the government spends money, it just goes into the economy. What could be wrong with that?” So, I told him what I was thinking.
Now, Henry smiled...not a good sign for me. I didn’t expect what he said next: “such pleasant dreams in the past have always been shattered by national insolvency or a runaway inflation.”
“Oh, no, Henry”, I howled, thinking, as I said it, that I sounded like Ray Barone’s Cousin Gerard. “You did it to me again. I’m outta here. I’ve got to think it over before I can respond to that one.”
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