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Here is the first:

(The wants of the poor) would be prudent to relieve, but folly to cure.

Bernard Mandeville (1723)

Here is the second:

It is a very singular government in which every member of the administration wishes to get out of the country … as soon as he can, and to whose interest, the day after he has left it and carried his whole fortune with him, it is perfectly indifferent though the whole country as swallowed up by an earthquake.”

That’s Adam Smith of course indicting the ravaging done by the British East India Company. That’s just one of the many foundational ideas of capitalism. Capitalism is not, as is popularly conceived, a system of exploitation and imperialism. And for those who indict Smith as being the father of modern Capitalism, it would be wise to read him closely and understand that not only was he horrified by naked imperialism, but he was very much skeptical of the business community conspiring against the public interest. More on this later on.

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