A very simple thought experiment should demonstrate the absurdity in the belief that so-called “sweatshops” are evil. Imagine for a moment the likely outcome of any given sweatshop, anywhere in the world, being closed down.
Tag: poverty
Life Is a Trading Game
Once upon a time, there was a man who traded a red paperclip for a car. Now granted, he went through a lot of intermediary trades to get there – from paperclip to pen, pen to something else, and so on. He traded up. Not all of us are as savvy at bartering. But in a sense we all are playing a trading game in life itself.
Meritocracy Without Borders: Sowell Edition
In recent years, Thomas Sowell has been a staunch advocate of stricter immigration policies. Which is ironic, because this passage from his Compassion Versus Guilt has stuck with me for thirty years: When I travel through California’s vast agricultural areas, the people I see working in the fields under the hot sun are usually Mexicans. …
Better — Not Good Yet
I am reading Hans Rosling’s book, Factfulness. Its subtitle is Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World–and Why Things Are Better Than You Think. I’m only up to reason #5, and I’m already convinced. It’s too bad that Alex Jones has usurped the name, “Info Wars,” because he is a malefactor in those info wars. Rosling, et al, are benefactors.
On Poverty
Is poverty the default state of mankind? In one sense, yes, but in another sense, no. Yes, everyone is born naked and penniless. Then, through gift, trade, and production we build wealth. Some build a lot, others a little.
On Labor Day
Perhaps Labor Day would best be celebrated by recognizing the source of wage labor: capitalism. Economist George Reisman had it correct when he wrote that few people could survive by selling products. Many more people survive by selling their labor.
Don’t Hate Market Signals; Use Them
I saw some guy on Twitter complaining about “capitalism” because he can’t get paid for his labor unless it’s valued by someone else. He picked the wrong culprit.
Rubio and Warren Join Forces Against Working Folks
In April, a year after its introduction in the US Senate by Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the US House of Representatives passed the End Banking for Human Traffickers Act, “an act to increase the role of the financial industry in combating human trafficking.”
Note to Seattle: If You Want Less of Something, Tax it
According to the Associated Press coverage of the tax, it would “raise roughly $48 million a year to build new affordable housing units and provide emergency homeless services.” That figure is likely based on on an untenable assumption: That Seattle will continue to have as many or more full-time employees working within the city limits after the tax is implemented than it had before the tax was passed.
“Avengers: Infinity War” Is A Cosmic Battle of Individualism vs. Collectivism
Thanos’ collectivism expresses itself in a backwards view of the world which many viewers may not immediately catch on to. Despite the film’s scenes on the devastated and once-populated Titan (which attempt to make Thanos’ mission seem sympathetic and reasonable) there are literally zero cases where eliminating half of a population by genocide improves productivity and wellbeing for the other half.