tylerboyd49Yep, I think that’s the key point. People only get rich at the expense of others when property rights are not protected (i.e. robbery, government subsidies, having the benefit of access to newly created money under old prices, etc).
In a free market, exchanges only occur when both sides value the exchange to be in their favor. While there will still be cases where someone may feel that the other person got a better improvement than himself during the exchange, improvement still occurred for both sides. This “bargaining range” decreases as the market develops (if I understand it correctly).
Excellent book. I recommend it to anyone for their first step in exploring the effects of government intervention. I saw this quote the other day by a anti-keynsian economist in China… “We human beings always seek happiness,” says Mr. Zhang. “Now there are two ways. You make yourself happy by making other people unhappy—I call that the logic of robbery. The other way, you make yourself happy by making other people happy—that’s the logic of the market. Which way do you prefer?”