Quote of the Day: August 1, 2009

Today’s quote comes from an economic parable by Frédéric Bastiat.

Have you ever witnessed the anger of the good shopkeeper, James Goodfellow, when his careless son happened to break a pane of glass? If you have been present at such a scene, you will most assuredly bear witness to the fact, that every one of the spectators, were there even thirty of them, by common consent apparently, offered the unfortunate owner this invariable consolation—”It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Everybody must live, and what would become of the glaziers if panes of glass were never broken?” (Read the rest of the parable.)

It should be very easy for one to see the similarities between the broken window fallacy here, and today’s supposedly successful Cash For Clunkers program that the government is going to throw (i.e. waste) even more money on.