The History of the World (Part Six)

Free Trade, Part One.

Our story thus far: After evolution or God or both coughed up H. sapiens (us), we spent myriad kyr (many thousands of years -- lookit me ma, I'm a wordsmith!) primarily preoccupied with killing each other, subsisting, and once in a great while, inventing something really cool.

Hunter-gatherers got tired of wandering around in search of three squares and invented agriculture (and beer). Once there was enough food and beer to go around towns became cities became civilizations and H. sapiens rose to the top of the food chain. The killing and subsisting continued, and, as mentioned, once in a great while someone invented something really cool.

Eventually, in the late seventeen hundreds, we hit a trifecta. The Industrial Revolution picked up steam, the USA was born, Adam Smith invented modern economics. Mr. Smith said that the best way for everyone to make a buck depended on three things -- the pursuit of self-interest, the division of labor, freedom of trade.

Now, this vastly oversimplified history of the world is about to get even worse.

That is, I'm deliberately giving short shrift to the first two and emphasizing the most important, freedom of/to trade. After all, the world in general, and the USA in particular, is somewhat preoccupied with the subject.

The pursuit of self-interest simply means that every Tom, Dick, and Jane has the right to figure out how they're gonna pay the cable bill without a king, or a master of any sort, assigning them a role to play in the economy or determining how and how much they'll be rewarded for their labors. A free man or woman should be compensated based on what service/product/talent they provide their fellow H. sapiens. A reasonably free market will easily determine the value of a good doctor, a good housekeeper, and everyone else.

When regulation is kept to a necessary minimum and the playing field is level, consumers will rule, consumers will win.

As to the division of labor, this can be summed up in two words, modern civilization. Do/make something you're good at and trade it for things you aren't good at doing/making. Simplify things dramatically via a reliable system of reward certificates (money). The result? The most prosperous era in the history of H. sapiens. Consumers rule, consumers win.

Which brings us to...

...Freedom to trade. If you’ve lost a good job because your job is now being done by someone in a foreign country, like Elbonia for example (H.T. Scott Adams) -crappy weather, chock full of primitive religious sects prone to killing each other, a corrupt government and/or any number of other possible combinations of factors that would keep you from vacationing there even if you had any damn money - odds are you might be a little cranky.  

I’m a little cranky because I lost a fairly decent job, a job that I thought would be my last, due to the effects of (ominous musical fanfare): The Great Recession. When this happened I was almost a thousand years old (in American years) and had all the wrong skills. I’ve been relegated to a crappy job, several part-time crappy jobs in fact, that required me to work eight days a week. Unfortunately, it wasn't because I was a greedy workaholic who couldn't ever be rich/secure/powerful/enough, it was because they didn't pay very well.

I had to work a lot of hours to get by; I literally limped my way, with a fractured hip, to a forced early retirement because I needed the diminished dough to get by before the rest of my damaged joints (rheumatoid arthritis) got any worse.

The reason I lost my job was because of/had nothing to do with free trade. I’m certain I could make a plausible argument linking the last recession (hopefully it was just a recession for you, for me, it was, ominous musical fanfare: The Great Recession) to free trade agreements. To bolster my case, I’m certain I could quote experts and statistics; I’m certain I could find some very official and complicated looking charts.

I’m equally certain I could make a plausible argument that proves free trade agreements had absolutely nothing to do with my personal experience of (ominous musical fanfare): The Great Recession. And I’m not even an economist.

[How to embarrass an economist. If they’re not rich (of course, most aren't), ask them why, considering what they do for a living. While they’re hemming and hawing you take your verbal kill shot. “And by the way, if economics is a science, why are you guys still arguing over what caused the Great Depression, you know, the one that hit about 75 years ago?”]

My point is that economics, which I find fascinating and worthy of study by the way, is a social science. This means cold hard facts are even harder to come by than they are in the hard sciences. We’re part of a global economy. Billions of people are pursuing their self-interest regardless of whether or not their government officially approves. This is human nature. This is reality.

[Insert relevant, ironic aside here. I live near a General Motors plant where the employees risk having their car trashed if it isn’t an official GM product. It was temporarily closed relatively recently because of an earthquake in Japan that disrupted the flow of components that GM manufactures or purchases -- in Japan. Ain’t that ironical?]

I lost my good job because of (ominous musical fanfare): The Great Recession. Economists will be arguing for generations as to what caused it as fervently as they argue about what caused The Great Depression.

More specifically, it might have happened because the company I worked for, that kept a huge Kmart warehouse clean, wasn’t competitive enough. And/or Kmart wasn’t competitive enough (hold your calls, I think we have a winner).

BIG BUT.

And/or Kmart decided that outsourcing housekeeping wasn’t such a great idea after all and decided to have people on the payroll do it. Which may have been because it was a concession to the union to get a contract signed, or just make the working environment less toxic, because the rank and file never did get over the establishment of quotas. Or, maybe they decided to assign “second tier” workers to do housekeeping since they’re bitter about the fact they have to hit the same quotas the much better paid first tier rank and file, who agreed to a second tier to keep their own wages considerably higher than local labor market norms...

Or, maybe I lost my job because of a variable, or a combination of variables, known or unknown, led to life jumping out from behind a tree and kicking me in the crotch. Which is how life, and the economy, in spite of our best efforts to generate a desired outcome, often works.

To be continued...

Have an OK day.

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Dear (Eventual) Stickies & Great-Grandstickies

The Stickies, if you are unaware, is the name I use for my grandkids, as a group. They are no longer sticky, so I pre-apologize to any given one of them if, after reaching adulthood, they should decide they are dysfunctional H. sapiens and innocent victims of this, that, and the other and, that one of the this, that, or the others turn out to be the fact I hung the name "the Stickies" around their delicate little neck.

I'm cautiously optimistic, however. It's early days yet, but so far they all seem to be in pretty good shape considering they live in a freakishly large household that includes me.

And now, if you'll forgive me, gentlereaders -- this is an open letter to them, they who are one of the primary reasons I continue to crank out my weekly column in spite of the fact I've yet to come close to being able to quit my day job -- so I must move on.

[Oh, but before I forget (sorry), let me publicly state that I don't expect any given one of them, no matter how financially successful they may turn out to be, to take care of me in my impending dotage. I'm sure I'll be fine.]

Dear Stickies & Great-Grandstickies,
It's the week before the presidential election of 2016...

[Sorry, sorry. I forgot to mention that I'm not writing to the current Stickies, who are busy being reasonably well-adjusted kids and/or young adults. I'm writing to the eventual Stickies, that is, the future, grown up Stickies, and also to the next generation of Stickies, my great-grandstickies. I hope to live long enough to not only meet my great-grandstickies but also to have a (hopefully) positive influence on their lives. Obviously, the odds of that happening decrease with each passing year but at least they will have access to my feeble scribbles. 

See, the Stickies probably won't remember all that much about the current election. The oldest is a newly minted 16-year-old (happy birthday, dude!). My great-grandstickies will be learning about it in history class. So, it's occurred to me that I can provide both groups with a first person account of this and other things as I experience them in real time. This will provide them with my perspective, and not just what they vaguely remember or learn about in history class. Hopefully, they will find this interesting.

Both of my parents died relatively young, long before my extended callowyute stage ended. I would love to have access to their thoughts on the Great Depression, WW2, and myriad other things.]

Dear Stickies & Great-Grandstickies,
It's the week before the presidential election of 2016 -- The Donald (Trump) v. The Hilliam (a symbiotic amalgamation of Hillary and William (a.k.a. Slick Willie) Clinton.

I'm reasonably certain cautiously optimistic that the history books will report that one of the defining characteristics, perhaps the defining characteristic, of the contest is that both candidates, according to the polls (and this is one case where a sharply divided nation agrees that even the polls are correct), are disliked and distrusted by more people than folks who like and trust them. Trust me, this is an accurate assessment.

It's not uncommon for even a given supporter of either candidate to state something like, "Sure, she's a world-class liar and a least a little bit crooked but..., or, "Sure, he often comes across as being a little nuts and he's at least a little bit crooked" -- but, "she/he is even worse."

By the way, I changed reasonably certain to cautiously optimistic because if the Hilliam wins I'm sure they will continue to push the nation in a leftward direction. At the moment at least, the public school system, as well as the majority of colleges and universities, are both guided by a philosophy that ranges from solidly left-wing to extremely left-wing.

This philosophy is currently somewhat enamored with revisionist history and free speech limitations, justified by the pursuit of political correctness. This is for your own good, of course, to protect you and your fellow delicate flowers and snowflakes from the inevitable trauma that will arise once your realize that the real world doesn't hand out participation trophies. So, who knows what the history books may actually say about this particular election considering we're told history is written by the winners.

Of course, I realize that your estimable parents didn't raise you that way and did everything they could to shield you from the liberal industrial complex. I highly recommend keeping this knowledge under your hats as much as possible, particularly if by the time you're grups, these unfortunate trends continue. It will give you an edge many of your peers will not have access to, or even understand.

Anyway, this is supposed to be about the fact that the richest, most powerful, and (arguably, it's complicated) freest nation the world has ever seen (so far at least) is about to choose a new leader, and most of its citizens wish there was a viable alternative to choose from. There ain't, and that's a fact, regardless of what the history books (will) say.

The Hilliam have a long history of corruption and managing to just miss paying a price for it (again, so far at least) and if one of you should decide to make a study of their lives in search of definitive answers you will find yourself on safari in a dizzinformation jungle. It's a man-made jungle they designed, with no shortage of help from our current cultural clerisy, a clerisy that believes that the end justifies the memes.(1) 

The bottom line is that since Slick Willie and the little woman left the White House they have amassed a fortune, estimated to be at least a $100,000,000 (and change) -- by being popular after dinner speakers. This is all you need to know.

As for the Donald, he's an alleged billionaire that has a history of endlessly shifting political, cultural and ethical stances. He seems to be rich, we don't know how rich, he won't release his tax returns. I normally would care less how rich he actually is, or even if, as they say in Texas, he's all hat and no cattle.

BIG BUT.

He markets himself as a wildly successful self-made man who's willing to use his immense natural ability to solve all of America's problems. Millions of people believe him.

Now, I've no idea how rich, successful, or intelligent he actually is -- but I do know this. He makes P.T. Barnum look like a rank amateur. He knows that people lead with their hearts and use their brains to justify their behavior after the smoke clears. He knows how to use this knowledge to build a following and battle his enemies. He knows that The Gubmint has become too large and too powerful and that the baby boomers knocked over the melting pot and set the culture on fire.

He knows that even many people who can't bring themselves to vote for a vulgarian are thinking that maybe even he would be better than the Hilliam, who personify everything that's wrong with America. We've no idea what he might actually do, but, [forgive me gentlereaders, for indulging my inner vulgarian -- desperate times/desperate measures] perhaps we need someone to go to DC and fuck shit up.

So, there you have it my dear Stickies and great-grandstickies. We are supposed to choose between the Wicked Witch of the Northeast and the Wizzard of Oz. I hope for your sakes it all turned out OK. Poppa loves you.

Have an OK day.


(1) The Clerisy

If you wish to react, leave a comment, share, etc. -- please scroll down. Also, you can do your Amazon shopping by clicking on the banner down there, thus helping to ensure that me and mine are not rendered homeless (no pressure...).

Free content offer. Please feel free to share, borrow, or steal any of my weekly copyrighted columns and do with them what you will, 24 hrs. after initial publication. All I ask is that you post my URL, TheFlyoverlandCrank.com, and mention my name, Mark Mehlmauer. For details click on the Take My Posts... Please! tab. Price: Free and No Charge. TYSAM

The History of the World (Part Five)

So, having managed to reach the year 1776 in spite of hundreds of thousands of years primarily devoted to killing each other while avoiding being killed by the somewhat bloodthirsty Mother Nature, two really cool things happened. The American experiment was launched (see parts three and four) and Mr. Smith published a book.

Adam Smith was, and is, a well-regarded absent minded professor type with a first rate mind. He gave up his day job, as a popular professor at Glasgow university in 1764, to tutor and travel with a young Scottish nobleman (road trip!). They spent a couple of years touring continental Europe and met several leading thinkers of the day (such as Benjamin Franklin) and Mr. Smith was given a life pension by the grateful nobleman that enabled him to spend the next ten years or so working on his magnum opus, “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.”

In other words, he set out to discover the best policies a given nation should pursue so that everyone could make a buck. The answer, as summed up by P.J. O’Rourke is, “Economic progress depends upon a trinity of individual prerogatives: pursuit of self-interest, division of labor, and freedom of trade.”

Warning: do not try and read The Wealth of Nations unless you enjoy the writing style of 18th-century century academics (I’m thinking this is a relatively small group of folks), and, you’re much smarter and more patient than I am (I’m thinking this is a relatively large group of folks). The commas and semicolons seemingly reproduce themselves as you try and decipher the text. Find a commentator or two that you trust to render Mr. Smith’s ideas into modern English.

In Mr. Smith’s defense, it ain’t easy to invent a field of study, particularly a field like modern economics. Also, I must warn any kneejerk anti-capitalists (a group that included me when I was a callowyute) that beating up on Mr. Smith because you think he was just another greed head will  make you look goofy as he’s well known for his belief that accumulating wealth and material goods won’t make you happy.

Before inventing modern economics, his thing was exploring morality and ethics, figuring out how we should treat each other, how we could all get along. He wrote a book entitled The Theory of Moral Sentiments that is still highly regarded. Incidentally, both it and The Wealth of Nations were best sellers in their day and almost immediately literally changed the world.  

He just wanted to figure out what the optimal system was for a free people to attain whatever level of economic security they thought was necessary and appropriate to keep the wolf from the door. He warned the world about crony capitalism. Although he was financially quite successful, he quietly and discreetly gave away most of his money and lived simply. I highly recommend P.J. O’Rourke’s, “On The Wealth of Nations.” Mr. O’Rourke is not an economist, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but that’s a whole different essay. He is, however, very smart, very funny, and lives in the real world.

“Economic progress depends upon a trinity of individual prerogatives: pursuit of self-interest, division of labor, and freedom of trade,” says O’Rourke, stating the fundamentals of Smith’s thought.  That’s it? That’s all it takes for a country to be prosperous?  Everdamnbody? Yup. Well, more or less. The rule of law is also essential component if you think that it’s important that everdamnbody should have to play by the same rules and bullies should be spanked.  

Disclaimer: I’m an unrepentant wild-eyed free marketeer, a UWFM, here, have a bumper sticker. I don’t care for the word capitalist because of the tendency of well-meaning, progressives, socialists and communists to frequently use it as an epithet. Also, I describe myself as a sorta/kinda or bleeding heart libertarian, primarily because I’m all for a rationally designed safety net and many libertarians think that’s wrong-headed or impossible.

Aside: Communism, in spite of its adherents claim that it would work if ever done properly, is an obvious dead end, often literally. Socialism is a great idea, all we have to do is change human nature first and lock up all the screwballs like me that are obsessed with personal freedom. Progressivism and/or democratic socialism, or how to have your cake and eat it tooism, is the current flavor of the month for the utopianists of the world. Many people want the benefits of a free market combined with a big, juicy welfare state with millions of rules and millions of unionized bureaucrats, but someone else, preferably the evil rich, should pay the high taxes needed to fund  the necessities of life, such as Obamaphones for example. More on the resulting mess later.

Back to Adam Smith. Smith’s work contradicted a widely held belief of his time, mercantilism. This is the belief that a nation’s wealth is determined by how much gold, silver, cash, ginormous televisions etc. it can accumulate, after all,  there’s only so much wealth to go around. Therefore, you should export for the cash and block, or at least penalize, imports. This view of the world, that currently is enjoying a comeback, leads otherwise clear thinking people to believe in the Boarding House Pie Fallacy.  

Say you're living in a boarding house. It’s dinner time and Mrs. McGillicuddy is serving up her famous apple pie for dessert. Since there’s only so much pie to go around, and fat Frank is at the table, it behooves everyone to employ a strategery that will ensure an equitable portion of pie. Mr. Smith’s insight (not to be confused with Mrs. Smith's pies), and he’s not alone, was that boarding house wisdom has limited applicability. There’s an easier and more effective way to get what you want that has the added benefit of not having to impose high tariffs (which begat high prices) and over-regulate anyone -- the pursuit of self-interest, division of labor, and freedom of trade. Skilfully employed these three ensure that everyone can have their own pie. To be continued...

Have an OK Day.

©2016 Mark Mehlmauer 

Gentlereaders, my Tuesday and Thursday mini-posts are about to disappear, at least for the time being. It looks like I'm going to need to have a new knee installed and before I do I'm going to be meeting all sorts of medical specialists. Turns out that if you're a man who is technically over 50 you're supposed to have various medical shtuff done on a regular basis. Who knew?

Having not seen a doctor since the late 80s (for a CDL physical... it's complicated) I'm running a bit behind and have all sorts of i dotting and t crossing to do (tests and appointments) before I can get myself a shiny new knee. 

So -- to make things easier, not miss any mini-post postings, and most importantly, to make sure I don't miss publishing my beloved (by me anyway) weekly column (dude, it's what I do!) -- mini-posts are outta here.