Adam Smith’s Achilles Heel - Why there will not be another revolution in America

 

Adam Smith, in Wealth of Nations, wrote of a utopian paradise where capitalism reigned supreme, and something called “specialization” allowed people to become near-perfectly efficient at a single task, which they could then exchange with others for their specializations to create a complete life that far exceeded the prevailing standard of living of the day. The Founders of the United States leaned heavily on this ideal, and it became a part of the very fabric of American society. Therein lies the Achilles Heel; I don’t believe that Adam Smith ever saw a world where people are so specialized and interdependent that they completely lose the ability to be self-sufficient. Adam Smith’s perfect world of specialization has come to fruition in near full spectrum, and the truth is this: when people specialize, they can get paid handsomely, but when that pay is what a person relies on for 100% of their standard of living, they are beholden to their company…and their company is beholden to the government.

Determining how much money the federal government gives to different banks, corporations, and other organizations is all but impossible because of the sheer number of spigots they have created. However, we can look at what happens when businesses get into trouble. In 2008, through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the US Treasury doled out $475 billion directly to companies that were set to fail. Not very laissez-faire if I could say so. Would that make a company beholden to the government? It would if they wanted the handout next time they’re set to fail. This is why I don’t believe there will be another American Revolution. It’s not possible. Most people rely directly on the government through one form or another. To support this, let’s look at markers for people who can provide for themselves. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, there are just under 39 million registered hunters in the US for 2020. With an estimated population of 331 million, that’s just under 12% of the population. I think being willing to pay money to the government to harvest your own meat shows a level of confidence in your ability that makes it a pretty good marker for self-sustainability. But there are also farmers, right? There are just over 2 million farms in the US, and while I couldn’t find an exact number, I know that not all of them grow food. Hemp, hay/straw, corn used for ethanol, and over 50% of the soy bean crop are all not directly edible. How many Americans know what it takes to grow even the simplest vegetables? If Americans were to take on their government, they would starve within months. This gives our government immense power over us, and creates an environment where, in the event of a collapse, we are far more likely to steal from one another than to produce for ourselves. In The Road to Serfdom F.A. Hayek describes a world in which the market is replaced by well-meaning authoritarians. Instead of emotionless, mechanical free markets creating opportunity and driving innovation, people take control, and honestly, if you’re still reading this, you know as well as I do what happens when people imperfectly insert themselves into the markets. You end up with a harsh catch-22 of the government leveraging tax dollars as national debt in order to pay the market to keep producing. Eventually, that debt bell is going to ring, and America isn’t going to be able to pay. The government will have no choice but to print more money, making its citizenry immensely poor as the value of the dollar plummets. The harshest part is that because of foreign currency exchange, paying off debt in two currencies depends solely on the destination currency, so printing money doesn’t actually fake out global creditors, it just devalues citizens’ cash holdings, similar to post-WWI Germany.

It’s not all doom and gloom. There are steps we can take to ensure that we have useful and desirable skills in the event of an authoritarian collapse. Step one, take some time to learn new skills. Not just computer programming and Instagram posting, but tangible, historically useful skills. Learn to hunt, clean, and cook animals. Learn how to grow vegetables. Learn public speaking, long-range radio operation, carpentry, metalwork, automobile repair. Definitely learn how to defend yourself and your family. Basic survival skills are a smart thing to have even if you don’t expect a governmental collapse, but having marketable skills in growing food, making and repairing things, and coordinating people’s efforts will serve especially well in hard times even if they do nothing more than reduce your expenses. In a world where the authoritarian government is trying to regain what it has rightfully lost, Adam Smith’s Achilles Heel will be severed in an instant. Please don’t find yourself without marketable skills.