Cash4Clunkers: Jonah Goldberg points out the silliness and economic ignorance of the BHO Administration

"How Much is That Clunker In the Window" exposes the economic ignorance of this administration. Jonah Goldberg uses a well known economic allegory from Frenchman Frederic Bastiat to prove this.

A must read!

The heart of the column:

"Bastiat's essay is most famous for the "parable of the broken window," in which a young boy shatters a shopkeeper's window and, after some initial outrage, the villagers conclude that the rascal helped the local economy. Why?

Because if no one broke windows, window makers would be out of business, and if window makers were out of business, they wouldn't buy any more bread or shoes, hurting the bakers and cobblers. So the six francs the shopkeeper must spend for a new window is really a boon to the community. The problem with this argument can be gleaned from the title of Bastiat's essay.

By counting the money the shopkeeper spends to replace a perfectly good window (that which is seen), we ignore the money he might have spent on something else (that which is unseen). The shopkeeper might have instead dropped six francs on new shoes, a book or a bonus for his assistant. Those who celebrate the broken window as a generator of growth take "no account of that which is not seen."

Sorry for the long digression, but the parable of the broken window is worth keeping in mind, or perhaps even worth updating to the parable of the crushed clunker."


If you can read this and support Cash4Clunkers you are an idealogue, not a thinker!