The Soapbox

Joined: 10/18/1998 Posts: 698
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Taking the long view can be hard to do...

...particularly while watching your community seem to collapse around you.

But in the long run these kind of painful transitions are beneficial. I once heard an economist give an example that stuck with me. He said to imagine a laborer whose job is to swing a pick ax all day. The use of steam engines would cost him his job (and the ability to provide for his family) so naturally we should expect him to do all he can to resist the transition to steam engines. But what if he knew that the transition to steam engines would mean his children and grandchildren would have much higher standards of living and wouldn't have to swing a pick ax all day to make a living? The economist supposed that in that case the worker would see losing his job as a small price to pay for the benefit of future generations.

(In response to this post by KCHoo)

Posted: 07/12/2018 at 9:40PM

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Current Thread:

Left For Dead in Danville: How Globalism is Killing Working Class America -- Joey Wahoo 07/12/2018 6:20PM

Martinsville's loss of the furniture industry might be even worse...and -- Tuckahokie 07/12/2018 8:03PM

My entire family worked there. The towns around that area are dead now. ** -- psychobilly 07/12/2018 9:38PM

Let us not forget the furniture industry in North Carolina that is gone ** -- VaTechie 07/12/2018 8:53PM

Did we stop making textiles, or just stop employing whole towns to work in -- WahooRQ 07/12/2018 7:26PM

Lots of specialty textiles are still made in the US -- Tafkam Hokie 07/12/2018 8:58PM

Globalization isn't the grand design of liberal economists. -- hoolstoptheheels 07/12/2018 7:46PM

The idea that society is powerless to stop globalization is untrue -- BonsackHoo 07/12/2018 8:14PM

Respectfully disagree with some of your key -- fishhoo 07/13/2018 12:36AM

Finally had some time to sit down. There is a lot here. -- BonsackHoo 07/15/2018 7:52PM

I actually don’t think we disagree too much -- BonsackHoo 07/13/2018 08:26AM

More like society would be insane to try to stop globalization. -- hoolstoptheheels 07/12/2018 9:42PM

I think we are talking past each other to a degree -- BonsackHoo 07/12/2018 10:06PM

Be warned: -- hoolstoptheheels 07/12/2018 10:31PM

Well said. -- Joey Wahoo 07/12/2018 8:24PM

Last I checked, there was still a party that supports taxing “capital” and -- WahooRQ 07/12/2018 8:54PM

How would you propose we tax "capital" more? And if we do tax capital -- BocaHoo91 07/12/2018 10:01PM

Your post identified the major problem: capital is mobile while labor -- BonsackHoo 07/12/2018 10:13PM

It’s environmental and labor issues (wages etc) far more than taxes -- KCHoo 07/13/2018 12:20AM

I don't know... the majority of the countries are in the high teens to -- BocaHoo91 07/12/2018 10:25PM

I think you are looking at it to short term. -- BonsackHoo 07/13/2018 06:19AM

Thanks. I think of myself as a New Deal Democrat. I hope I did not come -- BonsackHoo 07/12/2018 8:51PM

I agree unfortunately I don’t think the dimwits in Congress have a solution ** -- Hoakie82 07/12/2018 8:05PM

Partly because there is no such thing as some absolute -- fishhoo 07/12/2018 8:25PM

Assuming the free trade is fair trade but I don’t think that is what we’ve -- Hoakie82 07/12/2018 9:00PM

Americans,given freedom of choice, chose cheaper textiles. Should we have -- Hoo82 07/12/2018 7:37PM

Guy blew it in the very first sentence, when he said Danville was in the -- JMHoo 07/12/2018 7:10PM

I'm not sure NAFTA killed Danville's textile industry -- BocaHoo91 07/12/2018 6:59PM

Manufacturers will locate where the cost of production is lowest -- Joey Wahoo 07/12/2018 7:47PM

I think in this specific case, cost of environmental regulation -- Tafkam Hokie 07/12/2018 9:05PM

Also ships got bigger that could carry a ton more cotton -- VaTechie 07/12/2018 8:50PM

Ugh. I keep forgetting the less than sign must trigger some sort of HTML -- BocaHoo91 07/12/2018 7:10PM

Yes, textiles went down hill in the late seventies and early eighties. -- VaTechie 07/12/2018 7:06PM

Bruce was singing about it in 1984 -- wahoo138 07/12/2018 7:39PM

And Bob in '63. -- Shenhoo 07/12/2018 8:46PM

I would wager that industries have come and gone in the US -- KCHoo 07/12/2018 9:18PM

Lots have. And towns/areas have boomed and declined too. It is part of -- WahooRQ 07/13/2018 12:42AM

Taking the long view can be hard to do... -- Joey Wahoo 07/12/2018 9:40PM

North Dakota has a robust -- Shenhoo 07/12/2018 10:18PM

The Brain Drain -- Joey Wahoo 07/13/2018 06:09AM

According to this, the notion of brain drain is not backed by evidence -- Faz d. Hoo 07/13/2018 1:32PM

Not his children / grandchildren, someone else's children / grandchildren -- Faz d. Hoo 07/12/2018 9:47PM

It could be his grandchildren. Those communities lose their young people -- KCHoo 07/12/2018 9:59PM

Hey Shen check out this peach I picked today. -- Cold Hoober Hoo 07/12/2018 8:55PM

Wow! Ours are weeks away, I'd judge. Fwiw, the elberta's fruit looks -- Shenhoo 07/12/2018 9:02PM

I may have to plant a few elberta’s for my more senior customers. Lol ** -- Cold Hoober Hoo 07/12/2018 9:06PM