Jerry Pournelle On Free Trade

Source: chaos manor reviews

On the other hand, we do have a situation in which most of the profits from Free Trade fall to employers, but many of the costs fall on the general public.

Some of those costs are not purely economic although they certainly have economic repercussions. Social philosophers have for more than a century warned us of the dangers of wide spread anomie – that is, citizens with no ties to their community. No patriotism, no civic pride, and no reason other than fear of punishment to obey the laws. Telling half the population that it is unemployable – in effect useless – and can hope for nothing better than make work and the dole is not likely to make for a healthy republic. *snip*

At the moment we have Free Trade, job export, bad schools that are getting worse, and open borders. This does not seem a recipe for future success.

An interesting aside? I have noticed that the more successful SF writers I have met tend to be more conservative/realist in their outlook.

H/T Vdare

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