tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1846305408381850041.post265891527676112579..comments2022-05-16T08:03:18.301-04:00Comments on remarK's Remarks: A Place for ProsperityLawrence J. Kramerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06765377230733211459noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1846305408381850041.post-48433656194834143492010-04-17T09:49:30.543-04:002010-04-17T09:49:30.543-04:00Brent - The language you quoted doesn't really...Brent - The language you quoted doesn't really help the post, so I have removed it.Lawrence J. Kramerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06765377230733211459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1846305408381850041.post-84558142881986121012010-04-17T01:10:55.363-04:002010-04-17T01:10:55.363-04:00Oh, the workers make the goods, but many, worldwid...Oh, the workers make the goods, but many, worldwide, are not rewarded with the goods they make. <br /><br />I am making a straightforward argument. Pay for work is the engine whereby goods are distributed in America. Therefore, we can only be prosperous if we have an abundance of good-paying jobs. Maximizing production is merely a means to that end. By lowering prices, free trade increases the distribution of goods to <i>employed</i> Americans. But if, in so doing, free trade makes it impossible for many other Americans to find good work, the end - prosperity - is not achieved.<br /><br />Arguments for free trade pretty much fall into three categories:<br /><br />1. Free trade maximizes production. So what if the Chinese get jobs and we lose jobs? It's my prices, not your job, that matters. <br /><br />2. And anyway, displaced workers can find good jobs in more productive industries or in non-importable service industries. I know that doesn't seem to be happening, but who're you gonna believe - me or your lyin' eyes?<br /><br />3. Buying cheap goods is my God-given right. Tariffs take my money, and therefore, my liberty, and therefore (standing at attention, eyes to the heavens), everything I hold sacred. Economics has nothing to do with it.<br /><br />Yes, they're all as silly as they sound.Lawrence J. Kramerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06765377230733211459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1846305408381850041.post-25765028736229291982010-04-16T22:35:36.201-04:002010-04-16T22:35:36.201-04:00Labor is how we distribute goods: we go to work to...Labor is how we distribute goods: we go to work to get the bread to get the strength to go to work. <br /><br />Then what is the source of goods? Do they just exist as gifts from nature? <br /><br />Seems like, to me, we go to work to create goods and are rewarded for what we create by the good we create. In modern times we often trade our labor with other people to maximize output.(Division of labor)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08702023421707295914noreply@blogger.com