“Now I’m not a big fan of labor unions. I think they help some workers at the expense of others. I think they can allow racism to flourish. I think they make the workplace less flexible, less creative and more bureaucratic and rule-burdened”. –Russell Roberts, Professor of Economics at George Mason University
Given that the U.S. has a long history of racism, why is surprising that David Bernstein finds racism in labor unions? So the same can be said of other U.S. institutions like the police, country clubs, business groups, etc.
However, labor unions, in that they reduce competitive forces, make it inherently easier for racism to exist.
It is the difference between a free market economy and a completely government controlled economy, while racism can exist in both settings, atleast with a free market economy you are punished financially when employing racist policies. Therefore a racist culture can flourish much more easily in a less competitive economy, and since unions move us in that direction, they indirectly subsidize racist views.
Hispanic Pundit said:
“…It is the difference between a free market economy and a completely government controlled economy.”
Haven’t we had this conversation before? ;`)
The U.S. economy is not a ‘free market’ economy, rather it is a regulated economy and has been since at least the time of Alexander Hamilton, who argued for a National Bank and a commitment to economic growth through protectionist tariffs, subsidies to industry, and other measures recommended in his Report on Manufactures to the U.S. Congress.
The symbiosis between the state and capital can be illustration by such pieces of federal legislation as the Copyright Act, the Pacific Railway Act, various tariffs such as the McKinley tariff, and the Federal Reserve Act.
Doh, my bad, I forgot your sensitive about that …Replace ‘free market’ with ‘most free market’ in my above comment.
I’ll try to remember for next time.
“Doh, my bad, I forgot your sensitive about that …Replace ‘free market’ with ‘most free market’ in my above comment.”
Not to be smug or self-righteous my friend…; `)
But although you once said that ‘free’ is relative, you would need to qualify that term each time you used it. In other works, if you insist on using the term ‘free market’ in every post you make, you should state that it is a relative term and not to be taken literally and you’d need verify its level of freedom by comparing the U.S. economic system with other countries.
Is that too much to ask? …; `)
:-O … how about just putting it in ‘quotes’?