Re: Crypto's Role in Evil?

[Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com>]

On Sun, 8 Oct 1995, Timothy C. May wrote:

> liberalism" and law-based "social justice" policies. My personal view is
> that an ever-shrinking elite (20%, then 10%, then 2%, ...) will dominate
> high-value transactions, with the mass of humanity offering little or
> nothing worth buying. Just my view.)

I hear this from commies all the time but I don't have to take it from a 
fellow libertarian.  I expect commies to be economically illiterate.

The notion that the unskilled have nothing to sell is the same argument 
as saying that poor, third-world nations have nothing to sell (and 
should protect their markets via tariffs).  Commies these days (The End 
of Work - by anti technologist Rifkin) make the same claim.  This implies 
that wants are limited.

Most economists operate on the assumption that wants are unlimited.  
Certainly I do.

In addition to becoming skilled, the unskilled can supply personal 
services that we as primates will still like to have suppled by people.  
If "magically" supplied goods make goods cheap, labor becomes dearer by 
definition.

Some people seem to think that the theory of comparative advantage means 
that the person/nation with the lesser comparative advantage can't do 
anything.  What it really means is that the more efficient concentrate on 
those things they are more efficient at while the less efficient 
concentrate on less valued tasks which the more efficient could do better 
if it was worth it to do so but it's not.

DCF

"Who notes that waitrons of the present day have a much higher real 
income than physicians of the 19th century."