re: EBC Book #1 - Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt

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His idea of the government helping out those who can't get a loan on their own etc is sound in theory, but if 1/3 of those government loans is paid back and that individual becomes successful, then there will be more total at the end of the day long term. Both will be able to buy a coat as he likes to say.

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I just came across a passage where the author touches on addressing this:

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This argument will seem plausible only as long as we concentrate our attention on the particular borrowers whom the government supplies with funds, and overlook the people whom its plan deprives of funds. For what is really being lent is not money, which is merely the medium of exchange, but capital.

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The rebuttal points out why economics is more of a social science. Without tangible data, there's not much we can do to address the "alternative use" side of the argument.