Posted on 08/24/2011 4:02:43 AM PDT by Kaslin
We grow up learning that some things are just bad: child labor, ticket scalping, price gouging, kidney selling, blackmail, etc. But maybe they're not.
What I love about economics is that it can show that what seems harmful is actually good for society. It illuminates what common sense overlooks.
This is all covered in the eye-opening book "Defending the Undefendable" by economist Walter Block.
Most people call child labor an unmitigated evil. David Boaz of the Cato Institute and Nick Gillespie of Reason.tv say that's wrong.
"If we say that the United States should abolish child labor in very poor countries," Boaz said, "then what will happen to these children? ... They're not suddenly going to go to the country day school. ... They may be out selling their bodies on the street. That is not an improvement over working in a t-shirt factory."
In fact, studies show that in at least one country where child labor was suddenly banned, prostitution increased. Good economics teaches that as poor countries get richer and freer, capital investment raises the productivity of labor and child labor diminishes. There's no shortcut through government prohibition -- unless you like starvation and child prostitution.
What about price-gouging? State laws attempt to prevent people from charging "unconscionable" prices during emergencies.
"If I'm in the neighborhood of Hurricane Katrina," Boaz said, "what I want is water and ice and generators. ... If you are in Kentucky (and) you've got 10 generators in your store, are you getting up at 4 a.m. to drive all day to get to Louisiana to sell these generators if you can only sell them for the same price you can sell them for in Kentucky? No, you're going to go down because ... you can sell them for more."
Also, if prices rise during an emergency, that's a signal for people to buy only what they most need. That leaves more for everyone else. If the price remains low, an incentive to conserve is lost.
Ticket scalpers are seen as sleazy guys who cheat you by marking up the price of tickets. Profits go to middlemen instead of the performers. What good could they possibly do?
"I like to think of ticket scalpers as the guy who stands in line so that I don't have to," Gillespie said.
Time spent in line is part of the ticket cost. Scalpers let you pay entirely in money, rather than partly in valuable time.
Most people say that selling body parts is wrong.
"It also seems wrong to have people dying because they can't get a kidney," Boaz said.
Some 400,000 Americans are on a waiting list now for a new kidney, and they are not allowed to pay for one.
"We sell hair. We sell sperm. We sell eggs these days." Boaz added.
Gillespie added, "The best way to grow the supply and allow more people to live is to allow the market to price those organs."
Maybe the most counterintuitive position argued on my show was that blackmail should not be a crime. Blackmail (unlike extortion) is the demand for money in return for withholding information. Robin Hanson, a George Mason University economist, defends blackmail.
"The thing you're threatening when you're threatening blackmail (is) gossip," Hanson said. "If it should be all right to tell people, it should be all right to threaten to tell people."
What we don't like, however, is the blackmailer saying, "Pay me to keep quiet."
"But the effect of that is to make people behave," Hanson said. "If we (allow) blackmail, people behave even more because they are even more afraid of what might happen if they don't."
Maybe Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff would have been caught earlier?
"That's right. ... Blackmail is actually a form of private law enforcement."
Also, since gossip is free speech, blackmail is simply selling the service of not engaging in free speech. Why should that be outlawed?
I subtitled my last book, "Everything You Know Is Wrong." I was exaggerating, of course, but many things we're taught are fallacies. That's why I like economics. It explodes fallacies.
Despite the MSM narrative, bullying is not directed uniquely at gay kids. Victims of bullies suffer lifelong consequences--low self-esteem, inability to trust others, inability to form relationships, difficulty in establishing a career, etc. Bullying causes victims to commit suicide, in some cases. Bullying isn't tolerated in the adult world; there is no reason whatsoever to turn a blind eye to it because it's occurring among children.
So the argument as to whether or not something is bad hinges upon what may possibly replace it? So if a study showed that when police cracked down on physical assaults there was then a rise in murder we should then say “well getting beat up is not so bad, at least they didn’t kill me” ? BS.
Maybe they could find more countries to study?
“In fact, studies show that in at least one country where child labor was suddenly banned, prostitution increased.”
Take a stab at post #32.
Covering up a crime is illegal. Stossel was referring to gossip, which is not illegal.
I kinda did already, but I’ll expound on it a bit.
The government has gotten into enforcing morality, of a sort, by enforcing an “anti-morality”, or more specifically, enforcing a hostility and rejection of the “mere” Christian value system that the society was based on, and is/was successful because of it.
If we could actually get them to STOP enforcing “morality”,
then we’d all be better off because the natural superiority of the Christian value system, with respect to living in the real world with real humans, would re-assert itself.
People who teach themselves don't get the respect they are due, IMHO Teach people who are inclined to learn how to learn and they can take care of their educations quite well!
My Mother grew up in rural Tennessee and graduated high school there. Then she bought a paperbook that listed a lot of the great, classic books of all time by categories.
As she read a book, she checked it off and went to the next book that captured her interest.
The book is in tatters now with many titles checked off.
She is one of the smartest, most educated people I know and has been an inspiration to me and to my sibs. We all love reading. My sister is a librarian; my brother teaches college level IT. Me, I just read tons - one of the reasons I'm constantly on FR and also try to read books recommended by the very learned Great One, Mark Levin!
People who teach themselves don't get the respect they are due, IMHO Teach people who are inclined to learn how to learn and they can take care of their educations quite well!
My Mother grew up in rural Tennessee and graduated high school there. Then she bought a paperbook that listed a lot of the great, classic books of all time by categories.
As she read a book, she checked it off and went to the next book that captured her interest.
The book is in tatters now with many titles checked off.
She is one of the smartest, most educated people I know and has been an inspiration to me and to my sibs. We all love reading. My sister is a librarian; my brother teaches college level IT. Me, I just read tons - one of the reasons I'm constantly on FR and also try to read books recommended by the very learned Great One, Mark Levin!
Ignoring economics, especially sound economics, isures the downfall of any society.
Terrific!
You educated your son very well!
If you believe that, you live in a very sheltered world. Bullying ALWAYS happens. The tactics change, but I know of few working adults who have not run into it at their job.
I kinda did already, but I’ll expound on it a bit.
The government has gotten into enforcing morality, of a sort, by enforcing an “anti-morality”, or more specifically, enforcing a hostility and rejection of the “mere” Christian value system that the society was based on, and is/was successful because of it.
If we could actually get them to STOP enforcing their “morality”,
then we’d all be better off because the natural superiority of the Christian value system, with respect to living in the real world with real humans, would re-assert itself as the norm in our society, because living otherwise produces undesirable consequences.
Sorry for the double -
got sidetracked while replying.
I've got a little heart symbol on my license to indicate organ donor. I'm going to edit that and add a dollar sign before it. Everything has a price. Just pay my kids and you can take what you need.
Then the educators can not figure why the drop out rate is so high.
Sometimes I think that our educational system exist for the teachers and not the students.
bookmark
In a sense, I was taught that if felt that I became bullied, It was my responsibility to fix the problem.
Or provides incentive for the person of means to eliminate, directly or indirectly, anyone who might be a threat. (Would murder for hire increase instead?)
I would also add that insider trading should be legal, as it allows information to reach the market quicker, and increase market efficiency.
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