Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mindmetoo]

http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2007/04/boudreaux_on_th.html
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2007/03/easterbrook_on.html

There's this podcast called Econtalk. I listened to one ep about recycling and it was pretty boring. I was going to delete it. But then I gave it another try. Their ep on the great depression was really fascinating. History has been kinder to Roosevelt than it should, it seems (as far as his handling of the depression goes).

The two linked above knock down several myths.

One, we should buy locally. Two, trade imbalances are bad. Three, life is getting worse and worse.

1) "Self reliant societies are subsistence societies." Think of North Korea. There's never been a self reliant society on earth that ever got rich.

2) All those American dollars Americans are sending to China are going to come back anyway in the form of capital investment. If America didn't have anything the Chinese wanted, they wouldn't want American dollars. One can look at it this way: there's a very large trade imbalance between me and Burger King. I give them a lot of money but Burger King never buys anything from me. Is that inherently bad? No. Because there's also a trade imbalance between me and my work but this one is in my favor. Work buys a lot of my labor and I don't buy anything from them.

3) The average American family has three cars. People live longer than ever before. Pollution is down. Crime is down. Recessions get shorter and don't bite as much.

[Harpeau]

I listened to the first one. Very interesting points made. Sure makes you think.

Thanks for the link. Please post other cool podcasts. I really like to check out different stuff. What else do you (or others) recommend?

Cheers!

[mindmetoo]

[kermo]

There's something to be said for buying locally, even if it isn't for the sake of the economy-- it cuts down on pollution caused by trucks and planes required to ship the stuff, especially in the case of food which has to be done as quickly (not efficiently) as possible for the sake of freshness. You're saving oil and energy required for refrigeration en route.

[Harpeau]

I find it a joke that Seagull guitars take wood from a Quebec forrest, ship it to Daejeon, South Korea, to the Cort factory. They build then construct acoustic guitars; ship it back to LaPetri, Quebec. There the put the machine heads and other minor adjustments. Then they stamp on these low end models~ Made in Canada. What a complete farce!

[FistFace]

[mindmetoo]