Archive for unemployment
Everyone Should Use LSD
Posted by: |The character Flik in the movie A Bug’s Life was always on the lookout for an invention that would improve the lot of his ant colony. In the story, the ants were the hard-working productive creatures who simply labored as they were intended to. Given their plight they had little time to do anything else. Flik was always on the lookout for a way to break the endless cycle of grueling labor they performed every summer. He was passionate, inventive, and resolute despite the trouble these characteristics caused him in the ant colony.
I can empathize with Flik’s spirit of innovation. Inventions often make life easier, a win for both me and for the person who has made my life better. While labor is certainly a wholesome way to produce, labor-intensive tasks that can be made less painful are welcomed by just about everybody. Labor-Saving Devices, be it a faster lawn mower, a snow blower, or self-checkout at the grocer, are a net gain for all of us.
I’d rather spend two hours figuring out an easier way to perform a 20-minute task because I’d rather not get my hands dirty or lift a heavy object. I’d rather spend half an hour automating my Mac to perform tasks that would take me minutes to do manually. Some might view this as pursuant to laziness, but I view it as a potential investment in efficiency. If there’s a chance this new task will become a new habit, then I’m determined to make the task simpler and capitalize on my time. This, my friends, is the opposite of laziness!
Over 100 years of technological history ought to be evidence enough that technological improvements make our lives better. Yet somehow the myth survives that LSDs “take our jobs away.” Recently a friend told me he has chosen to avoid the self-checkout lanes at the grocer because the traditional lane contributed to a real person’s job. (I’m not sure who created the self-checkout technology, but I’m guessing it was a real person). The logic behind such decisions puzzles me. I choose the traditional lane because it’s usually faster where I buy groceries, and I often use it as an opportunity to encourage the real person doing the job of a machine! But I’m not under the illusion that I’m “saving” this person’s job. Surely my friend would object to a proposal that movie-goers leave candy wrappers and empty popcorn buckets on the floor as they exit the theater under the auspices of “job security” for somebody else!
Labor, like any natural resource, is scarce. Even multitasking humans can only perform so much at once. What is unique about labor is that behind it is a mind that can adjust and be put to use in myriad ways. The displaced worker at the checkout counter can now use his intellect somewhere other than mindlessly sliding goods from a conveyor belt down an angled bin into a bag. The displaced potato chip quality control overseer can now stop watching chips on a slower conveyor belt and use her intellect somewhere else in the production line (HT2 EconTalk for this simply awesome podcast). Laborers are free to contribute to more beneficial tasks for the betterment of themselves and society. Lest we believe we should always be doing exactly the same thing years from now, embracing LSDs will always yield a more prosperous society.
(It ought to be clear what the meaning of “LSD” is here. Neither I nor LCC condone, encourage, or excuse the use of LSD, this case notwithstanding.)
Art Carden proofread this essay and provided suggestions for improvement.
Tags: A Bug's Life, agorism, efficiency, job security, labor myths, labor-saving devices, laziness, unemployment
Why being a candidate can be beneficial for liberty
Posted by: |Though I think it is misguided to believe that electoral politics is the primary means of effecting change for the cause of liberty (especially at a national level), local activism is still a valuable tool for gaining visibility and spreading the libertarian message. For the first time ever, I’m running as a Libertarian for State Representative in District 49 in Austin, TX. Today I had the opportunity to submit a questionnaire to the League of Women Voters in their pre-primary/convention issue. I was pretty thrilled considering I know quite a bit about each of the issues in the questionnaire. By golly, they even asked about one of my specialties: transportation pollution!
Just the act of answering questions like this means that somebody, somewhere is probably going to hear the libertarian perspective, perhaps even for the first time. Here is the questionnaire and my answers. See what you think and comment about what you would have said. You can help me improve for next time!
Q1: Since the State financial support for education has decreased over the past two decades, what measures would you support to provide our public schools with adequate funding? (75 words)
A: Public school funding is not a sufficient metric for successful education efforts. Many private schools and homeschooling families operate on extremely low budgets yet educate children at a disproportionately high level relative to public schools. Rather than focus on increasing funding, I would support measures that give back control of educational resources to teachers and parents first. Eliminating systemic problems caused by political control of education should always take precedence over funding.
Q2: Texas is recognized as the highest carbon dioxide polluter among the 50 states. What would you propose to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in Texas? (75 words)
A: Carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced using many methods that do not resort to increasing the government’s control over the economy. Clean vehicle purchases can be encouraged by repealing all taxes and tariffs upon high-efficiency vehicles. Tax deductions should exist for efficiency improvements, upgrades, and repairs on older vehicles, and those purchases should be tax-free. Alternative energy subsidies should be eliminated; the free market will determine how to allocate energy resources most efficiently.
Q3: How would you address the major transportation problems in Texas? (75 words)
A: The Trans-Texas Corridor scheme proposed by Rick Perry is a scam, and the government’s general effort to manage transportation in Texas is a failure. If an effective, inexpensive solution is sought, the government should reduce its role in managing the system. By allowing private roads to develop freely and competitively upon the market (not like the pseudo-public-private toll roads that TXDOT has built), transportation problems will invariably begin to solve themselves.
Q4: How should Texas solve the depletion of the unemployment fund? (75 words)
A: Ultimately, the unemployment fund can have no other effect than the perpetuation of unemployment since financial resources are used to allow idleness rather than productive activity. Instead of worrying about the depletion of the unemployment fund, the government should work in every way to reduce its own spending, thereby allowing the free market to adjust resources and capital toward creating new jobs without interference by the government.
Tags: activism, economics, elections, philosophy, pollution, public schools, transportation, unemployment
Norman Horn is the creator and primary writer for LCC. Learn a little bit about him in the 