…nations are made up of different people with different levels of power and different interests. The benefits of the empire-building were concentrated among the politically well-connected few, such as weapons makers, certain monopoly trade companies, the military, and the kings and queens.
The costs—which exceeded the benefits—were in turn passed onto and spread among the helpless, hapless many, among the taxpayers forced to pay for the wars, the conscripts forced to fight and die, and the consumers forced to pay what were in many cases artificially high prices.
Jason Brennan, Ph.D., Why It’s OK to Want to Be Rich (2021, Routledge) p. 121
Jason Brennan, Ph.D., is the Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Professor of Strategy, Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy at the McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University, USA. He is the author of 14 books, including In Defense of Openness (2018) and Why Not Capitalism? (2014).
I highly recommend buying this book: Why It’s OK to Want to Be Rich
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
