I have owned all 3 books for several years and I can’t recommend them highly enough. I’ve read and re-read these books many times. Bastiat had a great sense of humor in getting his point across and he is able to present basic economic precepts in a way that makes sense right from the beginning. Though he has been gone for over 150 years, I will promise you that these books read like they were written yesterday. On the balance of trade, he clearly shows that a nation has only to sink all of it’s outbound ships as they leave the harbor in order to enjoy a “favorable” trade balance (according to the customs officials, that is). Regarding “protectionism” Bastiat’s answer is so succinct; “And yet would it not be just if, after a hard day’s ill-paid work, you could exchange the little you had received for the greatest amount of satisfaction that you could obtain freely from any man on the face of the earth?” Great stuff!!! Get you copies and enjoy!!

Bastiat is just another blind neo-conservative sheep, fighting French egalitarian values and social system. For him, Personality, Liberty and Property define who we are, above any kind of Law. He belives in natural theology. According to his views, collective rights should primarly serve individual rights. He was against the French national school sytsem, promoting private education as the only way to insure a bright future to our kids. What a bright move! Like Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard, Gustave de Molinary and Frederic Passy, they fought for a meritocratic liberal society. And now you give credits to crusty theories?!?! Here is the best example of the everlasting pro-economicus amnesia that keeps believing that the free market can heal the wounds of democracy. BUT HELLO, have you ever thought it could as well be the liberal approach of economics that fuck our brain away in democracy? The Maslow pyramid is a false approach of the complexity of human behavior. We don’t need marketing and management sciences in order to dream a better world. We’re simply more sacred than cash flows and egoism…

Knowing what you’re talking about? Roy, let’s be serious, dou you have yourself any idea? Check out the outside US-centric world and dig out for a while. Though I’m conscious that Anglosaxon countries have a different relationship to Liberty through their own national history. We’re all talking here about the same humanity boat on which we’re floating… What differs is just a matter of which direction we shall take.
While England slowly “got rid” of the State power, mainly focusing on individual rights, we all know that France “got rid” of both Church and Royalty, focusing on collective rights. Universal values were the cornerstone of its social system. It doesn’t mean that they’re all communist morons. It’s part of their very intimate history. It means that the French political system (left/right) has been built upon a strong lay/civil principle. Personaly, I strongly believe in the ‘Lumieres’ philosophy (Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood), and not much in Bastiat’s own neo-conservative delirium: Personality, Liberty and Property.
There’s no democracy without dissensus… but we should at least be clear about what we understand about liberty. Liberty for all? Or just for the meritorious ones (you know the ones that work hard, don’t think much about their neighbors and die young)? Meritorious ones, do you mean owners in general?
How do you explain poverty within our capitalist democracies? As a neo-conservative would answer: bad will, laziness, pitfalls of socialism? Or would you rather try to analyze the pitfalls of both socialism and capitalism put together?

Francisco wrote: ‘What law defines us instead of personality, liberty and property?’ I’d rather put Liberty first, then Equality and Brotherhood. No law = barbarism. Enlightened law = democracy/anarchy.

‘A concise explanation for all those burned cars.’ So you mean that the burned cars are due to the collective-based approach of French democracy. Come on, you have an oversimplifying way to analyze what happened in France: Burn Baby Burn, French Style? Roots of the riots in Urban France (Real Player needed)

‘Universal values?’ Sure, did you ever heard about the French revolution legacy?

‘Liberty for all – included the freedom to ignore your neighbors and die young.’ Ok, but you won’t live long while only focusing on your individual liberty rights. And sure, it’s up to you to die young, work hard, but not while dragging more people down with you. Corporate top-down organization is just another kind of modern slavery.

‘What is poverty? How do you define it?’ True. But my question was clear enough: how do you explain poverty in democratic Western capitalist countries?

Knowing what you’re talking about? Roy, let’s be serious, do you have yourself any idea? Check out the outside US-centric world and dig out for a while.

Actually, I wasn’t referring to how informed your personal opinions are, but rather your ignorance of Austrian economics and what the Mises Institute teaches, as demonstrated here and in other threads. Whether you agree with those teachings or not, you should at least know what they are before attempting to criticize them.

Until you stop swinging at strawmen, I’ll take no further interest in your remarks.