12 Oct 2006
Roads to Serfdom

Several folks have asked how I, as a "small l" libertarian, could be opposed to and appalled by the current move towards truly global "free trade". After all, aren't all libertarians advocates of the free market? Isn't that the same thing? And didn't David Ricardo and the theory of comparative advantage put to rest once and for all the arguments of the protectionists?

For those who still believe that things are that simple in reality, I offer a link to this essay. Read the whole thing. Perhaps then you'll understand that the market isn't nearly as free as it is made to appear, and that many things are not as they seem.

The American Corporate State and the economic system that dominates the world may be a capitalist system in fact, but it is not now and has only rarely been anything resembling a free market.

Once upon a time there was a man named Adam, who lived with his wife and children in the kingdom of Kleptopia. Adam ran a little shop that made and sold widgets. Of course, you need whatsits to make widgets, but Kleptopia's whatsit supply was sparse. But with some doing, and at no small expense, Adam had a secure supply of whatsits, as did the other widget shops in the town where Adam lived and worked. Adam had workers who assembled the widgets, and Adam paid them the a little more than what the other shops paid their workers. With more contented workers, Adam produced the best widgets in town, and made a decent living.

(link) [The Partial Observer]

via Mutualist Blog

20:46 /Politics | 8 comments | permanent link