I have not read the whole article (too much background noise right now), but this is interesting. Adam Smith, darling of the laissez-faire types, creator of the phrase invisible hand of the market to which some people give their allegiance the way a monk might give allegiance to the Bible: +begin quoted material+ Adam Smith on ... power imbalance and market failure: In all such disputes the masters can hold out much longer. A landlord, a farmer, a master manufacturer, a merchant, though they did not employ a single workman, could generally live a year or two upon the stocks which they have already acquired. Many workmen could not subsist a week, few could subsist a month, and scarce any a year without employment. In the long run the workman may be as necessary to his master as his master is to him; but the necessity is not so immediate. As for how that translates into policy, Smith was equally blunt: Whenever the legislature attempts to regulate the differences between masters and their workmen, its counsellors are always the masters. When the regulation, therefore, is in favour of the workmen, it is always just and equitable; but it is sometimes otherwise when in favour of the masters. +end quoted material+ I really must read The Wealth of Nations one of these days.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 17:53:57 +0000