re: National Socio-Economic Security Need for Encryption Technology

[Sandy Sandfort <sandfort@crl.com>]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                          SANDY SANDFORT
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

C'punks,

On Mon, 12 Aug 1996, Bart Croughs wrote:

> My statement that the wages depend on the amount of capital
> invested, has received a bad press. I thought cypherpunks were 
> economically literate, so I didn't explain the principle and I
> didn't give any sources for further reading. This proved to be
> a mistake.
> 	To avoid this kind of uninformed criticism in the future,
> I recommend my critics read the following books, which can all
> be ordered from Laissez-Faire Books...yada, yada, yada.

Been there, done that.  I repeat, the error that Bart made is
assuming that because some US-source capital gets redirected 
overseas, that the total amound of capital investment will 
decline thus producing the wage drop he is fretting about.
Unless he can show that foreign capital investment will not flow
to US workers who are "forced" into working in industries where
they have a comparative advantage, his argument must fail.  After
all, I--like the economists Bart cite--think international free
trade, the free flow of capital in persuit of the highest return
and division of labor are a GOOD thing.


 S a n d y

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~