The Ironic Benefits of the Iceland Volcano
Steven Horwitz gives a quick Bastiat-inspired ironic take on how standard modern state-fixated economists should cheer the Iceland Volcano, and in fact be plumping for IV II. A taste:
Think of the stranded travelers in Europe who are now spending money on food and lodging that they would not have spent otherwise. What a boon to the hotel and restaurant industry at the airports and elsewhere! Think of the people like John Cleese who took a $5100 cab ride from Oslo to Brussels. What a glorious time for the taxicab industry! When is the last time cabbies got fares like that? Rental cars, trains, and even boats are rolling in the profits the last few days.
Now consider the layer of ash that is covering much of Iceland and northern Europe. What at first seems like a real mess is in fact a one-in-a-lifetime economic opportunity: think of all the jobs that will be created in cleaning up that ash! Given the double-digit rates of unemployment that affect much of Western Europe, the ash is something of a gift as it could conceivably create clean-up jobs for millions.
Bastiat's original broken-window fallacy from whence the jape is derived.