"America has legitimate complaints about the way China does business and trade, especially the theft of intellectual property. But American workers don’t benefit from a poorer China beset by disease. America benefits when the rest of the world prospers and can buy U.S. goods."
This gem comes from the Wall Street Journal. As we have argued in our essays on Friedrich List (available by searching this Blog), this kind of pathetic idiocy forms part of what List called "the Anglo-Saxon cosmopolitan" view of economic theory whereby "wealth" is seen as an absolute value that all human beings can enjoy. In reality, however, "wealth, however defined quantitatively or qualitatively, is always and everywhere relative, in the sense that it is a zero-sum game! Wealth is social power! Asked whether they would rather earn $100,000 where everyone else was earning $200,000, or else $50,000 where everyone else was earning $20,000, hundreds of US graduates had no hesitation whatsoever! They preferred the latter option! That is to say, earn $50,000 when everyone else earns $20,000 rather than double the amount ($100,000) when everyone else earns twice as much ($200,000).
Evidently, both Paul Krugman and the Editors of the WSJ have half the IQ than most of the graduates at US colleges! - Which ought to be a reassuring fact....
This gem comes from the Wall Street Journal. As we have argued in our essays on Friedrich List (available by searching this Blog), this kind of pathetic idiocy forms part of what List called "the Anglo-Saxon cosmopolitan" view of economic theory whereby "wealth" is seen as an absolute value that all human beings can enjoy. In reality, however, "wealth, however defined quantitatively or qualitatively, is always and everywhere relative, in the sense that it is a zero-sum game! Wealth is social power! Asked whether they would rather earn $100,000 where everyone else was earning $200,000, or else $50,000 where everyone else was earning $20,000, hundreds of US graduates had no hesitation whatsoever! They preferred the latter option! That is to say, earn $50,000 when everyone else earns $20,000 rather than double the amount ($100,000) when everyone else earns twice as much ($200,000).
Evidently, both Paul Krugman and the Editors of the WSJ have half the IQ than most of the graduates at US colleges! - Which ought to be a reassuring fact....
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