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Response to Edith Kuiper: 
    
The first two points raised by Edith seem to convey the most profound themes we have so
far encountered.
    
Edith: "In Smith's phrase on the baker, butcher and brewer, Smith states that people are
not so much self-interested by nature but that in market relations one addresses the other
person's self interest."
    
Response: You just hit the poor bull in the eye, Edith. The criticial theme in the
articulation of the market mechanism is that the pursuit of self-interest is the driving
force in the market. People have all so= rts of interests, but in the market, they reveal
and apply their profit-motive.
    
I like to distinguish between the profit-motive (based on self-interest) and the power
motive (based on altruistic sacrifice for the fellow members of the state). The power
motive may also be called patriotic motive. It is one in which a person uses power to
defend himself and others whom he regards as family or friends or fellows.
    
So the same person is a member of a market where he seeks profit, and a member of the
state, where he seeks power. Then we can have two sharply defined branches of political
economy: one being economic science, the other being political science. Edith: "An
important thing that Smith brings forward is that social stratification is not based on
natural differences but rather that all men are equal and that the difference between a
professor in philsophy and a porter are learned differences."
    
Response: Now even I am getting embarrassed. How much do I have to praise Edith Kuiper? As
if by her invisible hand, she seemingly recovers the gems, while so many others are busy
turning up the pebbles.
    
The theme of natural equality, understood as a potential, is indeed one of the most
forceful ideas to elevate Smith's stature as a lofty thinker. If the market was really
free where each man had the option to enter and seek profit, the very market forces would
lead to a competitive equilibrium. The key is the <right> to compete freely.
    
I admit that I have a secret agendum to upload some heavy stuff to ride on Smith's notion
of competition. And that brings me to the sad job of downloading Ricardo's theory of
trade.
  
But I worry that our moderator's <invisible hand> may not find it proper to bring in and
downplay Ricardo in this thread. Hence, I may start a new thread: Smith, Ricardo and Marx
on competition
   
Mohammad Gani 
 
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