【金句】Thomas Sowell - The first lesson of economics is scarcity...

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The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it.

The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.

When politicians discover some group that is being vocal about not having as much as they want, the “solution” is to give them more. Where do politicians get this “more”? They rob Peter to pay Paul.

After a while, of course, they discover that Peter doesn’t have enough. Bursting with compassion, politicians rush to the rescue. Needless to say, they do not admit that robbing Peter to pay Paul was a dumb idea in the first place. On the contrary, they now rob Tom, Dick, and Harry to help Peter.

經濟學的第一課是稀缺：無論是甚麼東西，都永遠無法完全滿足所有想要它的人。

政治學的第一課是無視經濟學的第一課。

當政客發現有些群體在抱怨沒有得到他們想要的東西時，他們的「解決方案」就是給他們更多。政客們從哪裡得到這些「更多」的資源？他們是從彼得那裡拿來給保羅。

當然，過了一段時間，他們會發現彼得已經沒有足夠的資源了。充滿同情心的政客們趕緊伸出援手。不必說，他們不會承認從一開始搶奪彼得的資源來給保羅是一個愚蠢的想法。相反，他們現在會搶奪湯姆、迪克和哈利資源來幫助彼得。