To harm others is to harm ourselves; to spread obstacles, tariffs, coalitions, or wars along the path of others is to obstruct our own progress.

Frédéric Bastiat
Economic Harmonies

Today’s quote seems to be a particularly hot topic these days with all the circus acts around Ukraine performed by the United States, Europe and Russia. Of course, I do not understand anything about geopolitics and I am therefore not in a position to assess how relevant the sanctions that are put in place may be, nor how ineffective or how legitimate they are. However, what is certain is that these sanctions, which aim at causing harm to Russia (who is that?) are going to harm all commercial partners of Russia, starting with Germany, of course.

Let’s not forget my favourite apocryphal quote: “When goods and services do not cross borders, soldiers will”. Whatever the circumstances, to hinder the “doux commerce” is to set a foot in the direction of war, which as a human action, is probably the gravest error one can make.

Other quotes from Competition:
Introduction – Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5 – Part 6 – Conclusion