Hi, Khaled -
A time saving device in a factory in Detroit, may mean unemployment for a
worker in New Delhi.
I'm not quite sure how it would lead to that, but okay. What economics
teaches us is that it's not a zero-sum game. Efficiency is better on a
world-wide basis because inefficiency drags down everyone on a long term
basis. The essential issue, as far as trade goes, is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage .
Detroit is in pretty bad shape right now, but let's stay with Detroit. If
Detroit is kept inefficient, that diminishes the U.S. as an economic power -
which reduces the U.S. as either employer or market for India. Vice versa
also holds true. Remember, also, that in a market economy (a real market
economy, that is, not the mess we have), unemployment need not last long. It
can spark a new job that's better. It's critical to have flexible labor
markets, otherwise you get pre-crash European stasis.
Since the calculus result is unemployment for him, that machine has no
quality.
In fact, it does, because an efficiency-seeking system is what produced that
MRI machine or improved rice harvester or whatnot that makes his life
better. This was what the Z-narrator realizes about the Sutherlands - as
Romantics, they looked upon the industrial system as a sort of emanation of
the death spirit. In fact, the industrial revolution and the consequent
technological ages have been the greatest benefactor we have ever known, as
far as the basics of life on earth. Compare a snapshot of "the poor" and
"the rich" in 1749 to 1849 to 1949 to today, and look at the zoom upward in
life expectancy and infant mortality. It’s good to live longer, more
healthily, in happier surroundings, with fewer dying babies.
MRB
http://www.fuguewriter.com
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