The Wealth of Workstations

Declan McCullagh has a piece reminding neoprotectionists in the tech industry that Adam Smith applies to them, too.

Comments

[twistedmerkin]

Some people seem to have a conflicting opinion on competition in the marketplace. Most people agree that having competitors is a good idea. But many people become squeamish when they see them actually compete. The radio medium is a good example. There is a general call for more competition. But what some actually want is more competitors and less competition. They are unhappy with the results of the competition so far- the listening public has spoken, and it likes shitty radio.

[Ruthless]

Adam Smith’s invisible hand differs from Jason Ligon’s actual hand.
The invisible (lacivious) hand is good for everybody. It’s efficacy is directly proportional to freedom (anarchy according to me) and freedom means making nice to your competition.

[Sandy]

It’s been amazing watching people in the business assume that once the Indians were here, there was nothing to do but roll over and die. I had hours-long arguments with coworkers, and no amount of pointing to the U.S. auto industry, financial industry, or anything else could sway them. They were convinced of the “race to the bottom” argument and couldn’t be convinced that we’d had furners enter previous markets we were dominant in without everybody here ending up in the dustbowl.

And yet, a year later, I still have a job and work a lot of overtime because there’s more to do than I have time for.

[Douglas Fletcher]

Do we really have to worry about competition from a country where people still have their mommies telling them who to marry?