Adam Smith got away with it in Wealth of Nations: "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."
And in his Lectures on Jurisprudence: "Till there be property there can be no government, the very end of which is to secure wealth, and to defend the rich from the poor."
It's not a secret cabal of capitalists. It's capitalists acting as they're incentivized (or perhaps fail and be replaced by those who will). Wouldn't we naturally observe institutional forces in feudalism, the former USSR, chattel slavery, etc; and be astonished by people living in those societies not seeing the obvious?
There are plenty of folks who like to say they love Adam Smith but have either never read his works or seem to conveniently gloss over his very real problems with privilege and inequalities.
I really love him and Hume though, what amazing thinkers and especially ahead of their times!
And in his Lectures on Jurisprudence: "Till there be property there can be no government, the very end of which is to secure wealth, and to defend the rich from the poor."
It's not a secret cabal of capitalists. It's capitalists acting as they're incentivized (or perhaps fail and be replaced by those who will). Wouldn't we naturally observe institutional forces in feudalism, the former USSR, chattel slavery, etc; and be astonished by people living in those societies not seeing the obvious?