[extropy-chat] Re: riots in France

[John K Clark]

"Jack Parkinson" <isthatyoujack at icqmail.com>

> The prediction here for the US and western nations in general is dire.

Yawn. I predict that at one time or another there will indeed be riots in
the USA, and in every other country in the world. Big deal, riots are a dime
a dozen.  I am not impressed.

> And it won't be 'the Muslims' - because it wasn't
> 'the Muslims' in France.

Don't be silly, of course it was the Muslims in France.

> It WILL be their local equivalent

It will be a group that is at the bottom of the economic ladder, obviously.
In France it was a group that was crippled by its religion; I do not think
it's a coincidence that nearly all of the world's very poorest countries are
Muslim despite having more than their far share of natural recourses.

> Rather than despising these people

I confess I find little in them that is lovable.

> and branding them as criminals

I thought beating up people, looting shops and burning cars was criminal,
but perhaps I am misinformed.

> and crazies

I humbly submit that fundamentalist Muslims (or Christians) are crazies.

> we should tackle these social problems now.

By "we" you mean government and by "tackle" you mean the same tired old
programs dreamed up by the same tired old politicians that have caused much
of the problem in the first place; just do more of the same and everything
will be rosy.

If government really wants to help it should just get out of the way.

> Contented citizens with full bellies NEVER man the barricades.

Quite true and rather fortunate, if the richest and most productive and
powerful elements in society rioted it would be far more disruptive.

> Cheap labor produces cheap goods.

A keen grasp of the obvious.

> How many times have you bought something at a
> Big Box store and said to yourself, I don't know
> how they can make and sell this item so cheaply?

Never, I just figured its cheap because its made in a third world sweat
shop, and that doesn't bother me one tinny tiny bit. Suppose I run such a
place making shirts and pay my 1000 workers 7 cents an hour. Am I a
villain? I don't think so. My workers are delighted because the alternative
to 7 cents an hour is zero cents an hour, I am delighted because I am making
a very nice profit, and Wal-Mart customers are delighted because they get a
nice shirt at a reasonable price.

Or would it be more moral of me to fire 99 workers out of 100 and pay the
remaining ones 7$ an hour, or fire 999 workers out of a thousand and pay the
single remaining one 70$ an hour? Yes I know, I should pay all 1000 workers
70$ an hour, but I simply wouldn't have the money to do that because nobody
would buy my shirts because nobody could afford them.

And yes, I do think it's a tragedy that somebody must live on 7 cents a
hour, but the root of that tragedy is not some evil Wal-Mart conspiracy, the
root cause is that the world does not have enough wealth, and the way to
generate that wealth is the free market not grandiose government schemes.

Just after WW2 Japan and India were about equally poor, India initiated
subsidies and price controls and nationalized companies all in the name of
helping the poor; meanwhile Japan embraced capitalism. Today Japan is filthy
rich and India still dirt poor. The contrast between North and South Korea
is an even more extreme example of this. So forgive me if I don't get
outraged when you talk about how Wal-Mart is exploiting workers in poor
countries.

   John K Clark