Comments on: Destroying Straw Men Does Not Strengthen Protectionism

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:04:00 +0000

muir–

CA is not some vague hand-waving argument. It can be quite simply laid out and understood mathematically with very basic noncontroversial assumptions.

If you have an MD, then I presume you have at least a linear algebra education in mathematics. It is quite easy to lay out the 2 person multiproduct case, and almost trivial to lay out the 2 person 2 product case. When you do, you will speak differently about CA.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:29:00 +0000

Ethiopia has – almost uniquely in Africa – virtually no private sector business at all.[1] There are no Patent Laws in Ethiopia.[2] Many government owned properties during the previous regime have now been transferred to pro-government enterprises in the name of privatization.andFurthermore, the Ethiopian constitution defines the right to own land as belonging only to “the state and the people”, but citizens may only lease land (up to 99 years), and are unable to mortgage, sell, or own it.[3] Various groups and political parties have sought for full privatization of land, while other opposition parties are against privatization and favor communal ownership.Muirgeo – you’ve been punked and pwned.

By: MWG

MWG — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:22:00 +0000

“Sure in Ethiopia the means of everyman for himself are intact…”

You sure about that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Ethiopia

By: Nathan Scott

Nathan Scott — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:26:00 +0000

Absolutely. I have a cheaper, higher quality car, computer, tv, wood floor, clothing, shoes, dishes and just about any other capital expenditure that tangibly improves my day to day life. I have more efficient windows, doors, insulation in my house, investments that have all paid for themselves in just a couple years. I feed my dog high quality, slightly more expensive food that has given her a noticeable improvement in her older years. There are very few places I would say I’m paying more in. Perhaps diesel for my car, but accounting for inflation, I’m still paying relatively low prices for the amount of value I get in a single gallon of fuel, and plan to make my next car a plug in hybrid so I can avoid the impending price increases in oil.

Markets are essentially solving all the problems liberals have devoted their lives to forcing people into with governments, while the rest of us are actually enjoying the relative ease at which capitalism has given to our lives.

By: Mandeville

Mandeville — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:53:00 +0000

In haste I wrote “If their all” but meant “If there are”.

Please understand that “free trade” creates maximum wealth. It does not matter if the trade is only partially free. The more interference, the less wealth produced, and vice versa. This is proven fact if you study theory. It is not opinion. Nor, as some here have mused, is it ideology.

Now, if someone wants to defend free trade on moral or ethical grounds, that would be a different matter. That would be an ideological argument unrelated to the utility of free trade.