Here’s a letter to the New York Times:
Steven Rattner proclaims that it is “morally wrong to fail to help those on the losing end of globalization” (“What’s Our Duty to the People Globalization Leaves Behind?” Jan. 26). I disagree that a moral obligation to help those on its “losing end” is introduced by globalization. Globalization is simply the name of economic competition that transcends political borders; it is economically identical, in its nature and in its effects, to competition that occurs exclusively within political borders.
So if it is morally wrong to fail to help Michigan workers who lose their jobs to goods produced in Korea, then it is morally wrong to fail to help Michigan workers who lose their jobs to goods produced in Kentucky. If it is morally wrong to fail to help Ohio workers who lose their jobs because consumers choose to buy more goods made in Mexico, then it is morally wrong to fail to help Ohio workers who lose their jobs because consumers choose to buy more goods made in Mississippi. If it is morally wrong to fail to help Californians who lose their jobs because fellow Americans increase their foreign spending, then it is morally wrong to fail to help Californians who lose their jobs because fellow Americans increase their domestic savings.
While I would disagree with his ethics, Mr. Rattner’s argument would at least be logically consistent were he to insist that government has a moral obligation to help all people who now are on the downside of competitive forces. But as long as he singles out for government largess only those people who suffer economically from competition that happens to reach across political borders, I must conclude that a moral judgment that rests on such faulty economics is itself defective.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
I thank Gene Epstein for alerting me to Rattner’s essay – and for encouraging me to write and send in response a letter to the Gray Lady.
