From: David Clark (clarkd@rccconsulting.com)
Date: Mon Nov 08 2004 - 14:44:37 MST
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dani Eder"
> The real issue I see is the distribution of wealth.
> Right now business is moving to countries with low
> labor costs like India and China. If automation
> gets good enough, however, cheap labor may not be
> as much a factor. Business may then pull out of
> these countries.
>
I really have a problem with people talking about the "distribution of
wealth". Do you believe that "wealth" occurs naturally like fruit on the
trees? There was a time, before the 20th century, when wealth mostly
accrued from farming. This meant that whoever controlled the land,
controlled the generation of wealth. Today, very little overall wealth is
derived from agriculture in the Western World even though we all have to
eat. Even the wealth derived from oil, mining, timber and fishing are
mostly obtained by technology derived not these natural resources but from
modern technology.
Wealth (in the Western World) is primarily generated by thinking minds. (A
case in point is the relatively low natural resources available in Japan and
their relatively high degree of wealth.) Wealth is not some commodity that
arrives from "heaven" that people should share as to their need. Wealth is
created by the hard work of people like you and me and I highly resent
anyone trying to re-distribute the small amount of "wealth" that my hard
work has created. It has been found that the higher the degree of
re-distribution of wealth, the less of it is created!
Socialism has been shown to fail, everywhere it has been tried around the
world. There is a huge amount of evidence that shows that the greatest
"wealth" and highest standards of living for all are created where free
enterprise reins and socialism is minimized. (I realize that true socialism
or true free enterprise don't exist anywhere, so I am talking in relative
terms.)
Your last point about automation making the "cheap labor" advantage of
countries like India and China a smaller factor in the future is a good one.
I just hope I can help make that happen sooner rather than later.
-- David Clark
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