Though some of them would disdain to say that there are net benefits in small acts of destruction, they see almost endless benefits in enormous acts of destruction. They tell us how much better off economically we all are in war than in peace. They see miracles of production which it requires a war to achieve. And they see a postwar world made certainly prosperous by an enormous accumulated or backed up demand. In Europe they joyously count the houses, the whole cities that have been leveled to the ground and that will have to be replaced. In America they count the houses that could not be built during the war, the nylon stockings that could not be supplied, the worn-out automobiles and tires, the obsolescent radios and refrigerators. They bring together formidable totals.It is merely our old friend, the broken-window fallacy, in new clothing, and grown fat beyond recognition. This time it is supported by a whole bundle of related fallacies. It confuses need with demand.
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About Henry Hazlitt
Henry Hazlitt was a 19th-century American journalist and writer. Henry Stuart Hazlitt was an American journalist, economist, and philosopher known for his advocacy of free markets and classical liberal principles. Over a career spanning more than seven decades, Hazlitt wrote extensively on business, economics, and public policy for prominent publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The American Mercury, Newsweek, and The New York Times. Read more on Wikipedia →