Just had a good Facebook chat with an econ buddy. In the transcript I have given him the pseudonym “Cassandra,” for three reasons:
1. To protect his identity.
2. It’s a girl’s name.
3. It’s a classically appropriate name.
Ne’er spelling nor grammar has been corrected, though I did symbolificate one swear word.
***BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
CASSANDRA: i wrote this a moment ago (tell me what you think):
im in favor of free trade….if another company (or an american one on foreign soil) is willing to produce something that our country is unwilling to allocate the resources for (as indicated by the high cost of production) then let them do it and allow our resources to be allocated where the market dictates is most efficient
6:45pm
VDV: what aboot it
6:45pm
CASSANDRA: do you think a) im right? and b) i got my point across?
6:47pm
VDV: Yes* and yes
6:47pm
CASSANDRA: whats with the * ?
6:48pm
VDV: The * is that you used “unwilling to allocate” as synonymous with “having a high cost of production.” That invites a line of attack that we need to summon the will to produce certain goods here.
6:48pm
CASSANDRA: why must we do that?
6:49pm
VDV: Why must we do what?
6:49pm
CASSANDRA: why must we summon the will to produce certain good here?
6:51pm
VDV: Because they’ve always been made here, and by gum that’s what made America strong. The American economy was built on the back of the auto, steel and textile industries, and if we let those industries go, then the American economy will collapse shortly thereafter.
6:51pm
CASSANDRA: thats bull@#$%
6:52pm
VDV: Oh yeah? Then why are we in a recession?
6:54pm
CASSANDRA: because its highly unlikely to always have growing economy or and even one….downturns are virtually inevitable….and we certainly are not in a recession because we have cheap fabrics, cars, and metals available to us from elsewhere…
6:55pm
VDV: The auto industry is crashing and we’re in a recession. QED.
6:55pm
CASSANDRA: i have a cold and we’re in a recession….
6:55pm
VDV: You know what? I’ll bet you drive a foreign car. This is the fault of people like you, looking for a better deal for yourself and not realizing what it’s costing the country.
6:57pm
CASSANDRA: what costs the country is propping up an auto industry that hasnt kept up with the compition….its not enough to produce things here, if we do, we have to produce them better and more efficiently…
6:58pm
VDV: But those other countries stack the deck against us. They won’t let us export our cars to them, which keeps us from getting ticher
6:58pm
CASSANDRA: ticher?
6:58pm
VDV: ticher. Or RICHER, for that matter
7:00pm
CASSANDRA: we are freakin americans….we ought to be able to produce a better car, faster, for less, and provide the consumption to get them out of the dealerships and on the road….we dont need other countries…..but if we are unwilling to do so, we should do something else with the resources that we waste in a losing competition
7:01pm
VDV: Oh, we could beat them if we wanted to. Actually, we could beat them if Big Oil wanted us to. They own so many politicians in DC, it’s no wonder America keeps making the big gas guzzlers.
7:04pm
CASSANDRA: “society wants the best” said booker t. washington…..the reason that certain cars clog the interstate is because american consumers want them….and if they can afford them, then the reasons to deny them are pitiful….as for big oil….i suggest that we simply close their doors and make them illegal…..then we have the duel benefit of no gasoline and a further loss of jobs….
7:06pm
VDV: We’d have gasoline. We’d just dril for oil here, like we SHOULD be doing anyways, but it’s been cheaper to get it overseas. Once again, companies trying to save a buck end up costing the whole country.
7:06pm
CASSANDRA: also, i despise the way we want to deny some of our fellow americans the ability to make money because they happen to make more than us….
who would drill for it here?
big oil, thats who.
7:07pm
VDV: OUR Big Oil.
7:07pm
CASSANDRA: big oil is us…..except bp i suppose
7:08pm
VDV: And Chavez’s oil company (Citgo?)
7:09pm
VDV: And by the way, I don’t mind if some people make a lot more than me, but there should be some sort of limit on how much more they make
After all, the minimum wage has helped preserve the economy since FDR. Why not a maximum wage?
7:10pm
CASSANDRA: dom, its disgusting jst knowing that these words flowed from your fingertips…
7:10pm
VDV: This is going on the blog, I’m pretty proud of myself
7:14pm
CASSANDRA: the minimum wage is price floor on labor, the other a price ceiling….aside from the actual moral implications of some deciding for others what they can earn, there are inherent problems when the equilibrium of supply and demand of labor go below the floor or above the cieling
as you well know, jackass
7:14pm
VDV: Nonsense
7:17pm
CASSANDRA: the preservation of the economy is not a virtue….if it is preserved, it is not growing….and the rest of the world can be growing and passing us by…
7:18pm
VDV: Well, we’re not preserving it now and look what’s happening
That’s the whole point
7:18pm
CASSANDRA: i hate you.
i can’t even win an argument when im completely right and youre intentionally wrong…
7:19pm
VDV: quiet I’m playing Tecmo Bowl
***END TRANSCRIPT
3 Comments
aha!
so,I think Mr V is a closet conservative…. mmhmmm
think conversation is also quite comical
But I do disagree with you;the gvm’t can’t set a maximum wage. Whatever happened to lasseiz faire? or at least, the US’s attempt at lasseix faire. Pretty soon they’ll have set prices and wages for everything, which would lead to the fall or capitalism and then, a gvm’t controlled economy and then communism.
Adam Smith shakes his finger at you.
Your cousin Leslie
Dom –
I feel compelled to write and correct “cassandra’s” incorrect premise regarding trade. It is not that our country is unwilling to allocate resources for a particular product that makes an imported product cheaper. It is in fact the opposite. We allocate many resources to ensure american products are produced under far stricter labor and environmental standards than are followed in other countries. If we follow the premise that we should allow our resources to be allocated where the market dictates is most “efficient”, then we will literally import everything because we will never be able to compete with companies that pay their workers $1 a week. Ask Cassandra if he eats every day. If so, ask him if he wants every morsel of food he eats to be from China (laced with melamine or antibiotics). Didnt think so. Free trade is not fair trade…never has been and never will be.
Vincent Viscariello
I’ve started writing a response to the most recent comment, but it’s getting kind of longish and I want to reserve it for a full post. I’ll say this for now:
Everything I wrote after “Why must we do what?” at 6:49 PM was deliberately wrong. “Cassandra” was right every step of the way, except when he too was being facetious. Longer follow-up post either this weekend or early next week.
