Keith Hudson wrote:
>
> Ah well, some of you have had a lot of fun with the hidden hand.
>
> At least, I *do* very much hope it's all said in fun. Some people would
> despair if they believed you were serious.
I am not saying there is necessarily no place for an
economic market in social life. Will a time
ever come when no longer do two persons ever
compete for the affections of the same third person?
I think not. Will the time soon come when there
is enough La Tache, enough places to live with
breathtaking views, enough National Treasure pieces
of art, etc. for everyone to have as many/much
of them as they desire? I doubt it. I don't
see how all competition can be taken out of life without
turning society into a Land of the Lotus Eaters.
What I am saying is that place should be determined by
responsibly self-selected deliberations of ALL the persons
affected, and that said decision should be
subjected to UNIVERSAL ongoing oversight and review and revision
as we see what things persons do and do not do as a
result.
What we need is a visible and accountable hand (better: many
small hands as opposed to one massive hand?), along with
eyes and ears, etc.
And if persons say: "How dare you! I want to be a wage laborer
at a global minimum wage and to not be able to afford
health care for myself and have to work 80 hours per week
at mind-numbing meaningless labor the nature of
which is decided by Kenny Lay..., and spend my
vacations in unemployment without any social welfare
benefits, and, oh yes, I want
to drink cadmium, mercury and depleted uranium contaminated
water, too!", then I say, let them have what they want, but don't let
their pleasure spoil mine.
This is analogous to letting consenting adults
enact their sado-masochistic perversions in the
privacy of their homes. (It's not my "cup of tea",
but then I prefer green tea in a National Treasure
Kyoto temple.)
I don't see where there is anything so difficult about this --
except that some persons have not yet advanced to the
level of recognizing that renting human beings differs
only in degree from owning them. (I believe there were
good, caring slave owners, too.)
Am I enjoying
a little play with the rhetorical elaboration of discourse?
Yes.
Am I being entirely serious? Yes. (I'm not
"into" *splitting*!)
\brad mccormick
>
> Five young people who were living at the edge of poverty and despair only
> two or three years ago in what is still essentially a non-hidden hand
> economy (and of whom a third of their age group in Kiev are unemployed and
> a fifth are dying of AIDS) are only too pleased that they are receiving an
> income from the hidden hand of my business that has not only been able to
> pay them but has been able to sell their work to thousands of customers in
> the US -- still, mainly (and thankfully), a voluntary hidden-hand economy.
Student: Happy the land that breeds a hero.
Galileo: No. Unhappy the land that needs a hero.
(--Bertolt Brecht, _Galileo_)
[snip]
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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