Boudreaux on free trade and "outsourcing"
One irony is that this gent exports his advice to me free of charge!
Don
http://www.cafehayek.com/
http://marketcorrection.powerblogs.com/
………………………………….
27 September 2009
Mr. Mark ________
Proprietor, www.ssotu.com
Melbourne, Australia
Dear Mr. ________:
In response to my posts in support of free trade you keep e-mailing me, and posting in the comments section of my blog Market Correction, the following:
***
“American economics professors - as of tomorrow your lectures will be delivered via videoconferencing screens from Asia for only 10% of your salaries…
HOW WILL YOU FEED YOUR FAMILIES?”
***
I ignore the innumerable economic fallacies, and your ignorance of the data, that underlie your apparent assumption that imports from lower-wage countries impoverish citizens of higher-wage countries. And I grant that economic change and stiffer competition (including from the opening up of foreign sources of supply) often lower the pay of some domestic workers.
So I take your question at face value. My answer to it is this: I’ll find a way to feed my family. I’ll get another job (or jobs). I’ll cut back on less-essential expenses. If I must, I’ll rely on my family and close friends as I hope they would rely on me if they were in dire straits.
But I will not, under any circumstances, use my economic misfortune as an excuse to violate the freedoms of others. What right have I to demand that other people continue to pay me $X when they can get the same service elsewhere at a lower price, whether that lower price be $.99X or $.1X? It is a perverted moral creed that justifies my threatening violence against persons who once paid me handsomely but who now choose to spend their earnings differently. Such a moral creed is fundamentally inhuman, for not only does it make everyone a slave to everyone else, its widespread application would impoverish both our wallets and our character.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
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Yours truly
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10/03/09 @ 07:29:59 am
Well, hallo again Don,
How about another irony... Bearing in mind the self-evident disaster which economic geniuses like you had recently visited upon the American people, isn't it high time for economics lectures to be delivered into American universities via live videoconferencing links from abroad, Asia for example?
Surely, Asian academics couldn't possibly create a greater economic mess then that which your own bunch of bright sparks had brought about.
Keep it up fella...
Sincerely,
Mark Gendala
Melbourne, Australia
www.ssotu.com
Author of "re-industrialization of America: (R-O-A)
P.S. By the way - when you have a minute lto spare, please look up the trading definition of "export"
10/03/09 @ 01:17:58 pm
Mark,
You responded to my blog, not to Don, but I'll make sure Don (who is a friend of mine) sees your comment and my response.
You persist in the sorts of errors for which Don gently scolded you.
First, in what sense was the current economic turmoil brought to us by people like Don Boudreaux? The problems are a failure of government, not of markets, in particular the government's forcing banks to make loans to people whom they knew to be terrible credit risks, and then guaranteeing those loans with taxpayer money, thus ensuring terribly risky behavior by all involved. Don is the first person to argue against such government-caused distortions. While free markets can and usually do overshoot (either on the way up or the way down) and while corrections from overextended markets can be painful, they're certainly not as painful as corrections from government-caused failures.
Furthermore, the so-called "stimulus" which is stimulating nothing but the growth of government (and secondarily, the growth of the power of labor unions, at great cost to the nation) is also antithetical to everything Don believes (and everything I believe), not to mention that Keynesian economics have been so thoroughly debunked through history that it's barely even mentioned in college economics courses anymore. The only people who follow Keynes are people with political motivation because Keynes' theories are not good for anything other than buying votes.
In summary, I defy you to find ANY POLICY preferred by Boudreaux which can rationally be said to have anything to do with the current economic turmoil. Had our nation's leaders been following the lead of Don and others who support free markets, we'd all be much better off.
And what's your point about the definition of "export"?
Ross
10/04/09 @ 09:41:15 am
Ross,
Don is pro:
-Tax cuts
-deregulating the banks
-deregulating in general
-against the Sherman anti-trust act
- destroying unions
-freezing minimum wage
-free trade agreements
- corporate personhood
- lobby for hire
- anti- democracy
All things that have been adopted in general as policy over the last 30 years. And here we are. You guys don't want to take any responsibility and you want to blame it all on the government.
Well I know some communist you would like to put the blame of our government failure on to for our current mess. The thing is they've adopted the same defense as you. Since this wasn't full fledged Communism they take no responsibility for the results... NONE.
10/04/09 @ 11:20:19 am
I'm for the same things Don is for, except that you're mistaken when you say he's for "lobby for hire" and that he's "anti-democracy". (That said, I'm pro-Republic and I don't support direct democracy...there's a reason our Founders created this system.)
10/04/09 @ 09:43:29 pm
Ross,
I don't know how often you frequent the Cafe, but in case you are unaware of Muirgeo's politics, I'll fill you in:
Muirgeo believes that only government can determine how much liberty a man needs in order to be free.
Muirgeo believes that corporate welfare is wrong, and that GE is an eeevil corporation. Muirgeo also believes that GE should receive corporate welfare to make photo-voltaic cells.
Muirgeo believes that human-spewed CO2 is causing catastrophic global warming. To demonstrate how devoutly he Believes in the Church of AGW (headed by His Holiness: The Divine Prophet Algore I), Muirgeo routinely takes carbon-spewing vacations to Alaska, and other remote areas of the globe.
Muirgeo decries profiteering in the health care industry while profiteering in the health care industry so well that he can afford those carbon-spewing vacations.
Muirgeo is to the Cafe what Steve the Socialist is to Mike Rosen.