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PERFECT COMPETITION, LONG-RUN PRODUCTION ANALYSIS: In the long run, a perfectly competitive firm adjusts plant size, or the quantity of capital, to maximize long-run profit. In addition, the entry and exit of firms into and out of a perfectly competitive market guarantees that each perfectly competitive firm earns nothing more or less than a normal profit. As a perfectly competitive industry reacts to changes in demand, it traces out positive, negative, or horizontal long-run supply curve due to increasing, decreasing, or constant cost.
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                           FALLACY OF PERSONAL ATTACK: The logical fallacy of arguing that something is bad because someone "associated" with the thing is ugly, has a funny nose, drives a foreign car, regularly watches daytime soap operas, or wears outdated clothing. This fallacy of personal attack runs rampant in the political arena. Some politicians promote the notion that only good people propose good policies, while bad people have bad policies. The fact of the matter is that good people propose bad policies and bad people propose good policies. The fallacy of personal attack is often used to divert attention away from the issue at hand by focusing on irrelevant characteristics of people involved. The President proposes a tax increase to curb inflation. Rather than considering the merits of the policy, critics might erroneously argue that the policy is bad because the President once kicked his dog. The President might be a complete jerk, but this fact does not mean the tax increase is the wrong way to curb inflation.Here is an example of the fallacy of personal attack: - Suppose Professor Grumpinkston argues that governments have several important functions to perform in a market-oriented economy, including national defense, public education, transportation, and controlling the money supply.
- In rebuttal, Roland Nottingham calls the professor a tax-and-spend liberal, pinko, communist sympathizer who wants to dismantle the Bill of Rights and the free-enterprise system because he is a power-hungry demagogue who has no respect for American values or the game of baseball. Hence, anything the professor says about government functions is necessarily wrong.
- Whether Professor Grumpinkston does or does not fit this description is irrelevant to the proper role of government in the economy. He could be a neo-fascist, anti-government, pro-market, ultra conservative; or a middle-of-the-road, wishy-washy, undecided, apathetic moderate; both of which are also irrelevant to the validity of government functions in a market-oriented economy.
Attacking the professor's political philosophy has nothing to do with the pros and cons of particular government activities. Each activity should be evaluated on its own merit.
Recommended Citation:FALLACY OF PERSONAL ATTACK, AmosWEB Encyclonomic WEB*pedia, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2026. [Accessed: May 11, 2026].
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ORANGE REBELOON
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Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time at a flea market trying to buy either a T-shirt commemorating next Thursday or a birthday gift for your uncle. Be on the lookout for bottles of barbeque sauce that act TOO innocent.
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Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen were the 1st Nobel Prize winners in Economics in 1969.
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"Everyone is bound to bear patiently the results of his own example. " -- Phaedrus, Philosopher
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