Don Boudreaux usually skewers Paul Krugman, but this time it’s Thomas Friedman. (Obama takes a hit, too.) Here’s his letter in response to Friedman’s Sunday column:
11 December 2011
Editor, The New York Times
620 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
Dear Editor:
In paragraph five of his column today, Thomas Friedman approvingly quotes Pres.
Obama's complaint that "Steel mills that needed 1,000 employees are now able to
do the same work with 100 employees, so layoffs too often became permanent, not
just a temporary part of the business cycle...." ("The Next First (and Only) 100
Days," Dec. 11).
Ignore the fact that this Luddite lament - while in tune with the sympathies of
Lord Keynes - is supported by zero historical evidence. Focus instead on Mr.
Friedman's call, in paragraph eight of his column, for a "future ... where
people learn, imagine and create value rapidly by combining universities,
high-tech manufacturers, software/service providers and highly nimble start-ups
that collaborate and compete to invent things that make people's lives more
entertained, productive, healthy, educated and comfortable."
If, in paragraph five, innovation that makes people more productive is a
regrettable source of permanent job losses, how in paragraph eight does
innovation that "makes people's lives ... more productive" - and, hence,
destroys some jobs - become a desirable policy goal?
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
George Mason University
