Adam Smith quote - 6 of 10

"The woollen coat, for example, which covers the day-labourer, as coarse and rough as it may appear, is the produce of the joint labour of a great multitude of workmen. The shepherd, the sorter of the wool, the wool-comber or carder, the dyer, the scribbler, the spinner, the weaver, the fuller, the dresser, with many others, must all join their different arts in order to complete even this homely production. How many merchants and carriers, besides, must have been employed in transporting the materials from some of those workmen to others who often live in a very distant part of the country? How much commerce and navigation in particular, how many ship-builders, sailors, sail-makers, rope-makers, must have been employed in order to bring together the different drugs made use of by the dyer, which often come from the remotest corners of the world!"

- Quote from The Invisible Hand by Adam Smith (Penguin Great Ideas series)

Adam Smith quote - 5 of 10

"A man commonly saunters a little in turning his hand from one sort of employment to another. When he first begins the new work, he is seldom very keen and hearty; his mind, as they say, does not go to it, and for some time he rather trifles than applies to good purpose."

- Quote from The Invisible Hand by Adam Smith (Penguin Great Ideas series)

Adam Smith quote - 4 of 10

"...  the certainty of being able to exchange all that surplus part of the produce of his own labour, which is over and above his own consumption, for such parts of the produce of other men's labour as he may have occasion for, encourages every man to apply himself to a particular occupation, and to cultivate and bring to perfection whatever talent of genius he may possess for that particular species of business."

- Quote from The Invisible Hand by Adam Smith (Penguin Great Ideas series)

Adam Smith - quote 3 of 10

"Among men ... the most dissimilar geniuses are of use to one another; the different produces of their respective talents, by the general disposition to truck, barter, and exchange, being brought, as it were, into a common stock, where every man may purchase whatever part of the produce of other men's talents he has occasion for."

- Quote from The Invisible Hand by Adam Smith (Penguin Great Ideas series)

Adam Smith quote - 2 of 10

"Private people, who want to make a fortune, never think of retiring to the remote and poor provinces of the country, but resort either to the capital, or to some of the great commercial towns. They know, that where little wealth circulates, there is little to be got; but that where a great deal is in motion, some share of it may fall to them. The same maxim which would in this manner direct the common sense of one, or ten, or twenty individuals, should regulate the judgment of one, or ten, or twenty millions, and should make a whole nation regard the riches of its neighbours, as a probable cause and occasion for itself to acquire riches. A nation that would enrich itself by foreign trade, is certainly most likely to do so, when its neighbours are all rich, industrious and commercial nations. A great nation, surrounded on all sides by wandering savages and poor barbarians, might, no doubt, acquire riches by the cultivation of its own lands, and by its own interior commerce, but not by foreign trade. It seems to have been in this manner that the ancient Egyptians and the modern Chinese acquired their great wealth. The ancient Egyptians, it is said, neglected foreign commerce, and the modern Chinese, it is known, hold it in the utmost contempt, and scarce deign to afford it the decent protection of the laws. The modern maxims of foreign commerce, by aiming at the impoverishment of all our neighbours, so far as they are capable of producing their intended effect, tend to render that very commerce insignificant and contemptible. It is in consequence of these maxims, that the commerce between France and England has, in both countries, been subjected to so many discouragements and restraints. If those two countries, however, were to consider their real interest, without either mercantile jealousy or national animosity, the commerce of France might be more advantageous to Great Britain than that of any other country, and, for the same reason, that of Great Britain to France."

- Quote from The Invisible Hand by Adam Smith (Penguin Great Ideas series)

Space Oddity: Astronaut on Space Station sings Bowie - this is good

Adam Smith quote - 1 of 10 - pin making

"To take an example, therefore, from a very trifling manufacture, but one in which the division of labour has been very often taken notice of, the trade of a pin-maker: a workman not educated to this business (which the division of labour has rendered a distinct trade), nor acquainted with the use of the machinery employed in it (to the invention of which the same division of labour has probably given occasion), could scarce, perhaps, with his utmost industry, make one pin in a day, and certainly could not make twenty. But in the way in which this business is now carried on, not only the whole work is a peculiar trade, but it is divided into a number of branches, of which the greater part are likewise peculiar trades. One man draws out the wire; another straights it; a third cuts it; a fourth points it; a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving the head; to make the head requires two or three distinct operations; to put it on is a peculiar business; to whiten the pins is another; it is even a trade by itself to put them into the paper; and the important business of making a pin is, in this manner, divided into about eighteen distinct operations, which, in some manufactories, are all performed by distinct hands, though in others the same man will sometimes perform two or three of them."

- Quote from The Invisible Hand by Adam Smith (Penguin Great Ideas series)

Book: The Invisible Hand by Adam Smith (Penguin Great Ideas)

The Invisible Hand is a collection of excerpts from Adam Smith's classic "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations". The first few chapters concern the division and specialisation of labour are crucial reading for all, along with the later commentary on tariffs and protectionism. The middle section on mercantilism is no longer so relevant, partly due to the thankful influence of this very book, and so is less interesting unless perhaps you are a student of economic history.

Despite being published over two hundred years ago, Smith's words have stood the passage of time most excellently; the writing is exceedingly clear and convincing and it is also a joy to read with talk of importations, exportations, manufactures, manufactories and such like. As an aside, Keynes' book on his "General Theory" is impenetrable in comparison, despite being written much later.

I'll post the quotables to the blog over the next few weeks. There are quite a few to work through!

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."

**** (ignoring the section on mercantilism)

Book: The Lamp of Memory by John Ruskin (Penguin Classics)

Having read and enjoyed several quotes from the Victorian cultural converter John Ruskin, I had high-ish hopes for this book. Alas these hopes were mostly dashed, for there was simply too great an emphasis on architecture, a subject of no particular interest to me. I appreciate that architecture was a key focus of Ruskin's life but the cover of this book and the wording on the back cover simply left me ill prepared for the extent to which the subject dominated. Also, while many excellent passages peppered the pages, Ruskin's writing seemed to waffle on for way too long.

Where the book really shone for me was with the essay "Of King's Treasuries", which is all about books and is the source of the quote on the cover.

* For the essays "The Lamp of Memory", "Cambridge School of Art Inaugral Address" and "Traffic", the low rating likely reflects my lack of interest in architecture.

*** for "Of Kings Treasuries"

Quotes from the essay "Of Kings' Treasuries":

- It happens that I have practically some connection with schools for different classes of youth; and I receive many letters from parents respecting the education of their children. In the mass of these letters I am always struck by the precedence which the idea of a “position in life” takes above all other thoughts in the parents’—more especially in the mothers’—minds. “The education befitting such and such a station in life”—this is the phrase, this the object, always. They never seek, as far as I can make out, an education good in itself; even the conception of abstract rightness in training rarely seems reached by the writers. But an education “which shall keep a good coat on my son’s back;—which shall enable him to ring with confidence the visitors’ bell at double-belled doors; which shall result ultimately in establishment of a double-belled door to his own house;—in a word, which shall lead to ‘advancement in life’;—this we pray for on bent knees—and this is all we pray for.” It never seems to occur to the parents that there may be an education which, in itself, is advancement in life;—that any other than that may perhaps be advancement in Death; and that this essential education might be more easily got, or given, than they fancy, if they set about it in the right way; while it is for no price, and by no favor, to be got, if they set about it in the wrong.

- For all books are divisible into two classes, the books of the hour, and the books of all time.

- (Of the books for all time) ...The author has something to say which he perceives to be true and useful, or helpfully beautiful. So far as he knows, no one has yet said it; so far as he knows, no one else can say it. He is bound to say it, clearly and melodiously if he may; clearly, at all events. In the sum of his life he finds this to be the thing, or group of things, manifest to him;—this, the piece of true knowledge, or sight, which his share of sunshine and earth has permitted him to seize. He would fain set it down forever; engrave it on rock, if he could; saying, “This is the best of me; for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved, and hated, like another; my life was as the vapor and is not; but this I saw and knew: this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory.” That is his “writing”; it is, in his small human way, and with whatever degree of true inspiration is in him, his inscription, or scripture. That is a “Book.”

Perhaps you think no books were ever so written.

But, again, I ask you, do you at all believe in honesty, or at all in kindness? or do you think there is never any honesty or benevolence in wise people? None of us, I hope, are so unhappy as to think that. Well, whatever bit of a wise man’s work is honestly and benevolently done, that bit is his book, or his piece of art.It is mixed always with evil fragments—ill-done, redundant, affected work. But if you read rightly, you will easily discover the true bits, and those are the book.

- Do you know, if you read this, that you cannot read that—that what you lose to-day you cannot gain to-morrow? Will you go and gossip with your housemaid, or your stable-boy, when you may talk with queens and kings....

- This, then, is what you have to do, and I admit that it is much. You must, in a word, love these people, if you are to be among them. No ambition is of any use. They scorn your ambition. You must love them, and show your love in these two following ways:

I.—First, by a true desire to be taught by them, and to enter into their thoughts. To enter into theirs, observe; not to find your own expressed by them. If the person who wrote the book is not wiser than you, you need not read it; if he be, he will think differently from you in many respects.

Very ready we are to say of a book, “How good this is—that’s exactly what I think!” But the right feeling is, “How strange that is! I never thought of that before, and yet I see it is true; or if I do not now, I hope I shall, some day.” But whether thus submissively or not, at least be sure that you go to the author to get at his meaning, not to find yours. Judge it afterwards, if you think yourself qualified to do so; but ascertain it first. And be sure also, if the author is worth anything, that you will not get at his meaning all at once...

- I say first we have despised literature. What do we, as a nation, care about books? How much do you think we spend altogether on our libraries, public or private, as compared with what we spend on our horses? If a man spends lavishly on his library you call him mad—a bibliomaniac. But you never call any one a horsemaniac, though men ruin themselves every day by their horses, and you do not hear of people ruining themselves by their books. Or, to go lower still, how much do you think the contents of the bookshelves of the United Kingdom, public and private, would fetch, as compared with the contents of its wine-cellars? What position would its expenditure on literature take, as compared with its expenditure on luxurious eating? We talk of food for the mind, as of food for the body; now a good book contains such food inexhaustibly; it is a provision for life, and for the best part of us; yet how long most people would look at the best book before they would give the price of a large turbot for it?

A new addition to my Twitter feed to keep it light: KimKierkegaardashian

Recent tweets include:

• He who cannot reveal himself cannot love. So take advantage of the warm weather to wear less makeup.
• Send me pics of your best Kardashian Glow tan! So that we may glimpse the damage done to your soul.
•  I never thought I would ever say this... But I'm wearing flats today. I have lost my footing temporarily, but I hope I have not lost myself.

Tesla motors on, shaking up the industry

It may be a temporary bubble but the stock value of electric car company Tesla has now surpassed Fiat.  I can't tell if he is saying it through gritted teeth but Bill Ford, exec Chairman of Ford Motors, says “My hat’s off to them,”  noting that “..It’s really hard to start up a company, particularly in the auto business, and be successful.”

If you've never heard of Tesla look them up. It's a good story and they are headed up by Elon Musk, who also founded the company. He has a name like an evil corporate titan in a sci-fi or super-hero comic but is the real article, a maverick entrepreneur with a hell of an imagination and buckets of relentless determination.

Vent: Gwynne's over inflated notions on the importance of good grammer

"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world" - Wittgenstein

 In a recent interview on Radio 4 the famed grammarian, Mr Gwynne, responded to the question "Why is good grammer essential?", by stating that since we think with words so it must be that without words we cannot have thoughts except at the most basic, elementary level; the greater your vocabulary, the greater will be your ability to think. Gwynne goes on to say that because grammer is how you use words, if you use words in the wrong way it means you're going to think in the wrong way, which leads to wrong decisions and less happiness. So, he concludes, good grammer leads to happiness. When asked for an example, he says "I don't think that's very easy to do".

I think there is something fundamentally misplaced and wrong-headed with the idea of viewing people with poor grammer as poor thinkers. If I look at a painting or experience a piece of music or other artwork that resonates deeply within me, striking a chord with my soul or making me see the world in a different light, I can never capture how I feel about it words. I can try but I'll never really get to the essence of it. On another strand if I say "I didn't not do it, bruv", I know exactly what I mean and so, most likely, does the person being spoken to, even if they despise the sentence.

I'll stop now. Vent over. Ah, I'll sleep well tonight.

Hayek quote

The folks at Cafe Hayek have just blogged a wonderful quote by Hayek. Self-sufficiency is all fine and dandy in principle but this right here is where it's at:

"It is one of the accomplishments of modern society that freedom may be enjoyed by a person with practically no property of his own (beyond personal belongings like clothing – and even these can be rented) and that we can leave the care of the property that serves our needs largely to others.  The important point is that the property should be sufficiently dispersed so that the individual is not dependent upon particular persons who alone can provide him with what he needs or who alone can employ him."

Book: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin (Penguin Classics)

I bought The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Penguin Great Ideas)as part of a job lot in a charity store. More often than not the books you think you won't be interested in do indeed turn out to be turkeys but on the odd occasion you can be pleasantly surprised as you learn of a new subject with an unexpected interest, thanks to an author who strikes all the right chords with the reader - a new window on to the world is opened.

This book was a turkey.

I was hoping for some wise gems of wisdom since Walter Benjamin was a highly respected cultural theorist and he wrote this essay during a pivotal moment in history just when mass production by mechanical means was taking hold, changing the very meaning of art as it became highly reproduced and widely distributed. Instead of feeding my glimmering spark of interest the book proved very dry and academic, with a strong political angle and thick with paragraphs such as:

"The masses have a right to see the ownership structure changed: Fascism seeks to give them a voice in retaining that structure unaltered. Fascism leads logically to an aestheticization of political life. The violation of the masses, which in a leader cult forces it to its knees, corresponds to the exercised by a film camera, which Fascism enlists in the service of producing cultural values."


I see the book is very well rated on Goodreads but then again I also see that people who read this book also read the likes of "Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism" and "Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments".

I have dipped my toe in these waters and I am stepping back out again. 

* (Other essays in the book concerned Proust and Kafka. Not having read these authors, I simply couldn't engage with these pieces and so left them be).

Food: Cucina Povera - Pasta with White Fish and Peas

Throw some brown pasta into a pan. Drop in a couple of fish fillets. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add a handful of frozen peas and simmer for 3 minutes longer. Drain the water, add lots of s&p and some chilli oil and stir in. Empty the contents on to a plate, add a bit of grated cheddar and drizzle heavily with olive oil.

It's simple, quick, high in protein and low in cost (works out to about 50p a serving), and involves minimal washing up. My kind of meal.

A good adaptation of the above is to replace the pasta with whole grain rice, factoring in the extra cooking time and taking the cheese out of recipe.

Income Inequality by Don Boudreaux

Whatever your views on income inequality, I recommend reading Don Boudreaux's response "I do not care in the least" piece over at Cafe Hayek. Not that I'm trying to convert you into a libertarian or anything.

; )

xkcd: one for the font obsessed

Advertisement police: risking health and safety for a good shot?

At end of a current Toyota Yaris tv advertisement (screenshot above), a lady parks up infront of a shop and happily saunters out. Now, I have some questions to ask. Look at where she has parked, it's directly infront of a zebra crossing and junction. Also, isn't that a yellow line leading from here left foot to somewhere underneath her Yaris? There is a yellow line on the road on the right hand side of the screenshot, so it's quite likely. Just imagine the potential carnage when she comes back out of the store with her shopping.

Advertisement police: Garnier Pure Active Charcoal Face Wash

In this advert, Garnier promote a facewash with bits of charcoal in it. In the small print statistic, mid-way through the advertisement, we see that 77% of 53 women agreed with it's effectiveness claims (i.e. 41 people). In fact, the statistic is caught in the still below. So the product doesn't live up to it's claims for almost 2 out of 10 people who will buy and use it? Also, what's with the small sample size? Given that a single tv slot around 20 seconds long likely costs somewhere in the region of £5000, was the Garnier's budget so tight that that could only find 53 women for their sample, or did they just not care? I could ask further questions as to who made up the sample and what the control was but I'll concede that a cosmetic survey doesn't need the rigour of a medical trial. But really, 53 women, come on now.

Book: The Money Bazaar by Andrew Krieger

Feeling like doing a spot of cardio work in the gym today, I thought I'd take this book to leaf through while pedalling away on the exercise bike. I was completely hooked after the first few pages and by the time I was done cycling I had made it a third of the way through. Not bad goings. I finished it off later in the day, making this the first proper book I have read cover-to-cover in a single day.
 
I'm surprised that I hadn't heard of The Money Bazaar until a few weeks ago. The author is Andrew Krieger, a famous currency trader who controversially shorted the New Zealand dollar and made a few hundred million for his employer before moving on to work for Soros' legendary Quantum Fund.

Krieger has done a great job with The Money Bazaar. It was published back in 1992 when most currency deals were still voice brokered and the world balance of economic power was completely different, which lends an interesting contextual angle. The first few chapters provide an introduction to the market and currency trading from an autobiographical perspective, and the final chapter also closes with a personal reflection. In between we are given a clearly written explanation of the evolution of the market as Krieger discusses the impact of policy decisions such as The Plaza Accord, the Bretton Woods Agreement, the Smithsonian Agreement and the Louvre Accord. This may sound dull but the events marked pivotal points in the development of the currency market. Also, because Krieger writes of the evolution from a trader's perspective versus that of a dry academic, we are provided with a unique insight rarely afforded to the lay man.

Overall, this is a great book for those with an interest in the currency markets. It is not a 'how to trade' book - there are plenty enough of this type of book out there and I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole - but provides wisdom and lessons by explaining how we got to the current state of competitive, freely floating exchange rates.

 **** 1/2  - The Money Bazaar is out of print but can had second hand on e-bay or Amazon for a song.