John McCain and Adam Smith
Tonight on 60 minutes, John McCain had this to say on the state of the economy:
"There's a social contract that Adam Smith talked about between capitalism and the people. That contract has been broken, it's been broken by greed and access, aided and abetted by a government in Washington that's dominated by special interests and corruption."
My philosophy minor has been gathering dust, so I may be wrong, but something about this sounds wonky, although I can't quite put my finger on just what. It is true that Smith saw the social contract as arising from the economy, but McCain seems to be wanting to use "social contract" with a more Locke-ish feel. I mean, Adam Smith literally wrote the book on laissez faire economics. If anything, the unfolding events in the financial sector would suggest that Smith's is no longer a helpful framework in the 21st century, not that the framework is still a good one and Wall St. just somehow screwed it up.
Any philosophers or economists out there to throw some light onto this? Am I correct in thinking this was an example of a talking point designed to make people think McCain knows something about the economy, as opposed to actual evidence to that effect? Or am I completely off-base and Johnny's been boning up on "The Wealth of Nations" after Jeopardy every night?