Friday, September 19, 2008

WORK AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

by the Sandwichman

Perelman has previously mentioned his forthcoming book on the irrelevance of workers in economic theory. Yesterday, I received a note from David Spencer about his forthcoming book, The Political Economy of Work, which is due out in about a week.

Everybody knows that the BIG BAILOUT heralds "the most radical regime change in global economic and financial affairs in decades." But what has it all got to do with work and workers? Higher unemployment? Increasing cost of living? Quite possibly those things -- but another as yet unspoken dimension of the collapse-and-bailout of the financial system and its impending re-regulation is that it authorizes a re-opening of debate about the regulation of labor markets.

Until recently, the official Anglo-American journalistic line on labor market regulation was that it was bad. Europeans had to liberalize their labor markets or risk falling further and further behind the dynamic US economy. Well, now we know -- as some of us have been pointing out all along -- that the dynamism was contrived. It is time to re-assess ALL the hoary myths about the inherent superiority of "free markets", including that one.

3 comments:

Jack said...

Only a trained economist could actually believe in the beneficial potential of the free market concept.
The industrialist and their allies in the financial sector know full well that the concept of free markets is bull shit. They are free to pillage and we are free to suffer their consequences.

Consider that other mythology, that Social Security is about to go bankrupt and needs to be saved.
Note that none of the bailers had put forth any suggestions to spend a few hundred billion to save Social Security. They are self serving scum, the free marketeers.
They seek freedom to take and they seek the freedom from loss.

Anonymous said...

Speaking about the free market, I believe this world has NEVER seen free market! There is always some regulation, because there is always some government to implement force into mutual exchange between people. I suggest to read some works of Rothbard, I believe he has done the best work in explaining theory of the free market.
Take care
Elli

Anonymous said...

as the first 2 commenters abv. observed, the first hoary myth to go should be the utter nonsense of the concept of a "free market" to begin with. To concede any or all otherwise is to buy into the concept, and you are forever playing defense rhetorically when you argue with creeps like Larry Kudlow or even sharpies like Robbie Rubin.