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The Incredible Bread Machine: A Study of Capitalism, Freedom, & the State
R. W. Grant 0930073320 9780930073329 Fox & Wilkes - 1999-06 Hardcover | 2nd Rev Edition | List $24.95 (USD) | Sales 2309111 Product 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
299 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 13, 2013
If you want in-depth discussion of Keynesian vs. Hayekian economic theories, you just won't get it from this book. But what it is comprised of is a simple analogy and examples of corrupted free market and capitalism methods that then lead to tighter control by the state, when the state's control was one of the primary reasons for the problems in the first place. You're seeing this today in Healthcare, Higher Education, Retirement 401K issues, housing markets, stock markets, and many more. The poem at the end really sums it up. I have heard a lot of rants about this book, mostly about it's simplistic writing and lack of depth. But sometimes intellectual rigor makes people miss the obvious. Read with an open mind, do go in with an agenda, and it's a pleasant and eye-opening read.
December 23, 2018
Pretty good intro into libertarianism and how governments distort markets, much more than the poem that gives the book its title. Would give 3.5 stars if I could.
For me, it was a bit tiresome though because I already knew a lot of the libertarian boilerplate going in, so it wasn't as enlightening or astounding it would have been 10+ years ago.
The only parts that really annoyed me - and are my general critiques of libertarianism now anyway - is how tone-deaf the author was on culture, acting like all humans are automatons that will all have the same exact reactions in the same exact situations and that these instincts are generally good and predictable.
Even though I still consider myself a libertarian, the philosophy's larger problem (especially when it's propounded by atheist/agnostics like Grant) is not realizing the shoulders they're standing on when it comes to the Golden Rule ethics they utterly depend on and expect as normal human behavior. The Enlightenment has fooled society into thinking that we can have ethics without a foundation in religion, let alone Christianity, and the only reason we have a semblance left of it in the West is due to this ghost of Christendom that can still have a hold on us despite larger society being progressively more degenerate and proud of it.
I highly recommend anyone that thinks we're all alike in wanting to treat others as we would like to be treated or universalist ethics should go live in a society without a broadly Christian tradition like India or better yet China, to see the real fruits of economic pragmatism and "natural" ethics.
For me, it was a bit tiresome though because I already knew a lot of the libertarian boilerplate going in, so it wasn't as enlightening or astounding it would have been 10+ years ago.
The only parts that really annoyed me - and are my general critiques of libertarianism now anyway - is how tone-deaf the author was on culture, acting like all humans are automatons that will all have the same exact reactions in the same exact situations and that these instincts are generally good and predictable.
Even though I still consider myself a libertarian, the philosophy's larger problem (especially when it's propounded by atheist/agnostics like Grant) is not realizing the shoulders they're standing on when it comes to the Golden Rule ethics they utterly depend on and expect as normal human behavior. The Enlightenment has fooled society into thinking that we can have ethics without a foundation in religion, let alone Christianity, and the only reason we have a semblance left of it in the West is due to this ghost of Christendom that can still have a hold on us despite larger society being progressively more degenerate and proud of it.
I highly recommend anyone that thinks we're all alike in wanting to treat others as we would like to be treated or universalist ethics should go live in a society without a broadly Christian tradition like India or better yet China, to see the real fruits of economic pragmatism and "natural" ethics.
October 12, 2019
If you question the value of capitalism, i recommend this book. It's an easy and understand explanation that might just hello you understand and value how it works.
December 27, 2008
When my brother asked me to read a book about capitalism, I took his phrasing at face value. "Well," I thought, "I suppose that's good knowledge for anyone to have."
But oh, no, no. It is libertarianism with a chip on its shoulder (is there any other kind?). Apparently, R. W. Grant had written a piece of laissez-faire doggerel called "Tom Smith and His Incredible Bread Machine," in which a plucky inventor is destroyed by government regulation (the text can be found here: http://www.vex.net/~smarry/oldbbs/bre...). This book was written as an exposition of the philosophy that lay implicit within that "poem."
And it starts off with a bang: a vindication of the Robber Barons, those wonderful 19th-century capitalists responsible for the Gilded Age. It was the government's intervention that led to monopolies, not cutthroat capitalism. Vanderbilt, Morgan, and Rockefeller were saints who were hoping to improve society. The government was a meddling institution which only hoped to extend its own power.
The glossing-over of the horrors of the industrial revolution reads like something from the literature of Holocaust denial. By the time the author had gotten to sneering at intellectuals, my mind simply began to wander.
I can't wait to see what he has to say about the environment!
UPDATE:
Denouncing altruism, extolling gated communities, and a police force entirely unnecessary, this book confirms in my mind that, should libertarianism ever be carried out... may God have mercy on us all.
But oh, no, no. It is libertarianism with a chip on its shoulder (is there any other kind?). Apparently, R. W. Grant had written a piece of laissez-faire doggerel called "Tom Smith and His Incredible Bread Machine," in which a plucky inventor is destroyed by government regulation (the text can be found here: http://www.vex.net/~smarry/oldbbs/bre...). This book was written as an exposition of the philosophy that lay implicit within that "poem."
And it starts off with a bang: a vindication of the Robber Barons, those wonderful 19th-century capitalists responsible for the Gilded Age. It was the government's intervention that led to monopolies, not cutthroat capitalism. Vanderbilt, Morgan, and Rockefeller were saints who were hoping to improve society. The government was a meddling institution which only hoped to extend its own power.
The glossing-over of the horrors of the industrial revolution reads like something from the literature of Holocaust denial. By the time the author had gotten to sneering at intellectuals, my mind simply began to wander.
I can't wait to see what he has to say about the environment!
UPDATE:
Denouncing altruism, extolling gated communities, and a police force entirely unnecessary, this book confirms in my mind that, should libertarianism ever be carried out... may God have mercy on us all.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews