Bastiat Frédéric
The satirical essay "Petition of the Manufacturers of Candles, Waxlights, Lamps, Candlelights, Street Lamps, Snuffers, Extinguishers, and the Producers of Oil, Tallow, Resin, Alcohol, and, Generally, of Everything Connected with Lighting" by Frédéric Bastiat questions the notion of economic intervention by the government. In the essay, Bastiat imagines a group of candle manufacturers asking the government for protection from the recently found technology of sunlight, which is posing a threat to their business. The candle manufacturers look for the government to put a tax on windows to protect their industry, claiming that sunlight is a "free good" that is hurting their business and eliminating jobs. Bastiat effectively refutes government involvement in the economy with the help of this ridiculous scenario. He demonstrates how shielding some businesses from rivalry by the government merely protects inefficiency and stifles innovation. He also emphasizes the crazy premise that wealth is a set pie and that the only way for some to become wealthy is for others to become poorer, which is the foundation of the candle makers' argument. Bastiat asserts that the contrary is actually true. I am in agreement with Bastiat’s argument, as the poor of the 21st century are far better off than the poor of the 19th century. Think about what being poor meant to a person during the industrial revolution. Being poor meant that each person worked 12 hours a day 6-7 days a week in horrid conditions. Now the poor have access to the internet, which arguably has made success more egalitarian, and the worst job is flipping burgers and handing out overpriced coffees for 5 days a week. Based on my experience working at Starbucks, I did not risk having my hand chopped off daily like many workers did in the textile industry. I also leveraged the internet to create my own business, which now has clients all over the world. Steve Jobs created a product that allowed me to escape the already improving low-income job force. I will gladly spend $1,000 to have access to the greatest library in all of human history combined. Apple benefits from my purchase and I benefit from the value that I willingly choose to extrapolate from the product. It is a win-win scenario and not a win-lose scenario like the absurd pie comparison implies. Furthermore, the role of government should be to defend people's rights to engage in free exchange and competition, not to shield particular industries from competition, as these factors stimulate economic progress and create new wealth. Using comedy and satire, Bastiat's essay is a famous example of his sarcastic writing style, which he frequently employed to criticize government meddling in the economy. An example of this in Bastiat Frédéric. (2011) is when he says "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." Basically, the government meddling in society and the economy is mocked for frequently causing money to be redistributed from one group to another. According to Bastiat, people and organizations aim to exploit others and live off their labor by using the power of the state. Bastiat's "Petition of the Manufacturers of Candles, Waxlights, Lamps, Candlelights, Street Lamps, Snuffers, Extinguishers, and the Producers of Oil, Tallow, Resin, Alcohol, and, Generally, of Everything Connected with Lighting" is a clever essay that challenges the notion of government intervention in the economy. Bastiat uses his ridiculous scenario to make a clear-cut case for free markets, competition, and innovation while highlighting the perils of protectionism.
Frédéric Bastiat makes an argument for limited government and criticizes the notion of government involvement in the economy in his essay "Government." He contends that rather than meeting citizens' needs, the primary role of the government should be to safeguard individual rights and stop the use of force and coercion against people. He even makes the bold claim “(Government p8) The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!" He is basically explaining how power structures become corrupt over time as they attempt to adhere to the desires of the people. In reality, this just gives those in power more power. People in power should not involve themselves in a variety of matters to stray away from this. He also claims that the production of new commodities and services as a result of the free trade of goods and services in a market economy is the real source of wealth. According to Bastiat, government interference in the economy through policies like protectionism and subsidies is detrimental since it distorts the market and causes the misallocation of resources. This is evident in the current economic landscape, as the Fed has pumped trillions of dollars worth of liquidity in the economy, via QE. This will have detrimental consequences in the future, since they created a large asset bubble that will eventually be popped. It is best to let recessions occur naturally instead of artificially stimulating the economy, as the landing will be even harder in the future. Bastiat contends that protecting specific businesses from competition is not the fundamental function of government, but rather safeguarding peoples' freedoms of exchange and competition. Bails outs from the government should not be commonplace. The banks have had it too easy the past decade as the government will not let them fail, which increases risky behavior. In summary, the essay "Government" makes a strong case for limited government while also criticizing the notion of governmental interference in the economy.
In his article "The Law," Frédéric Bastiat criticized the notion of governmental involvement in society and promoted the value of limited government. According to Bastiat "The Law" (1850 p6), the state is the great fiction by which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." What he is saying here is that the law should not be used to redistribute wealth or to obstruct the market's free trade of goods and services, nor should it be used to advance the interests of some groups at the detriment of others. He says the importance of free markets is competition. According to Bastiat, all citizens should be treated equally under the law, which should be unbiased, impartial, and fair. He also contends that rather than meeting citizens' needs, the government's job should be to safeguard individual rights. The assumption that the government should meet the needs of its people, according to him, is founded on the absurd notion that wealth is a set pie, and that the only way for some to become wealthy is for others to become poorer, as stated earlier in this paper. According to Bastiat, the development of new goods and services as a result of the division of labor and the free interchange of goods and services in a market economy is the actual source of wealth. He contends that economic interventions by the government, such as protectionism and subsidies, are detrimental because they distort markets and cause resource allocation to be inefficient. This distortion of markets will have terrible effects later on, once markets come back to reality. In contrast to meeting its citizens' wants, he contends that the job of government should be to safeguard individual rights and forbid the use of force or coercion against them. To sum up, "The Law" is a potent essay that challenges the notion of governmental involvement in society and promotes the value of limited government. According to Bastiat, the purpose of the law should be restricted to defending the rights of citizens to life, liberty, and property while also discouraging the use of compulsion and force against them. He asserts that rather than meeting the needs of its people, the government's responsibility should be to safeguard individual rights and permit the free trade of commodities and services in the market.