Exactly. That's a That Was 1759 He Published.

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David Frum: Adam Smith was against mercantilism, but modern conservatives are more consumer oriented. He says Reagan had to adjust his public face of what he said when Harley Davidson couldn't compete with foreign motorcycle producers. Some market fundamentalists criticized him for that; there's a lot of crony capitalism in the U.S., Frum says. The National Association of Manufacturers has been fighting child labor laws and workmen's compensation since the late 19th century because it wanted protective tariffs on American manufacturers.

Shermer and Oreskes discuss: the myth of market magic • market fundamentalism • market absolutism • market essentialism • capitalism and democracy • well-regulated vs. poorly regulated capitalism • U.S. Constitution and capitalism • what the founding fathers believed about markets • what Adam Smith really said about markets and capitalism and how economists rewrote Adam Smith • why markets need regulation in the same way sports need rules and referees • rhetorical fallacies of market fundamentalists • child labor laws • bank failures • Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 • Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman • religion and capitalism • think tanks • collective action problems.

Naomi Oreskes is Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University. Her opinion pieces have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and many other outlets. Her TED talk, “Why We Should Trust Scientists,” was viewed more than a million times. Erik M. Conway is a historian of science and technology and works for the California Institute of Technology. He is the author of seven books and dozens of articles and essays. Their new book is The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market.