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The Freeman 1989 THEFREE IDEAS ON LIBERTY 380 A Triumph for Bootstraps Capitalism CONTENTS Clint Bolick OCTOBER Ego Brown's battle against arbitrary economic regulation. 1989 VOL. 39 383 Speculators: Adam Smith Revisited NO. 10 Christopher L. Culp and Fred L. Smith, Jr. The "forestallers" of Smith's era were as reviled as the "insider traders" of the 1980s. 386 High-Definition TV: Government or Market Choice? Gary McGath Consumer decision provides the ultimate method for setting standards. 389 The Confession ofYevgeni Turchik: Part-lime KGB Agent A special interview from inside the Soviet Union. 392 The Real Child Care Crisis J. Brian Phillips The state is neither an effective nor appropriate guardian for our children. 394 Specialization and Exchange Gene Smiley Gains from a rising specialization are the same whether we consider two individuals, the citizens of two states, or the citizens of two nations. 396 The Minimum Wage: An Unfair Advantage for Employers Donald J. Boudreaux The minimum wage creates a surplus of unskilled labor in the marketplace. 398 Free Market Money in Coal-Mining Communities Richard H. Timberlake The issue and use of scrip in isolated economic environments. 406 The Forgotten Right ofAssociation David Hood Have the courts compromised a fundamental right in the name of expediency? 409 Movie-Goers Can Think for Themselves Tibor R.· Machan Consumers are not helpless pawns of advertisers. 410 Book Reviews John Chamberlain reviews A Critical Examination ofSocialism by William Hurrell Mallock. Other reviews: Hong Kong by Jan Morris, The Fatal Conceit; The Errors ofSocialism by F.A. Hayek, and Roosevelt and Stalin: The Failed Courtship by Robert Nisbet. THEFREEMAN IDEAS ON LIBERTY PERSPECTIVE Published by The Foundation for Economic Education China: Why the Worst Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533 Got on Top President of The recent slaughter of student demonstrators The Board: Bruce M. Evans Vice-President: Robert G. Anderson in China's Tiananmen Square led me to reread Senior Editors: Beth A. Hoffman "Why the Worst Get on Top," a chapter in E A. Brian Summers Hayek's classic The Road to Serfdom, written in Contributing Editors: Bettina Bien Greaves Carl O. Helstrom, III 1944. Why were the Chinese authorities so bru­ Edmund A. Opitz tal? Why did the soldiers shoot their own coun­ Paul L. Poirot trymen? Consider Hayek's perceptive comments Copy Editor: Deane M. Brasfield about totalitarian leaders and their minions: "To be a useful assistant in the running of a to­ The Freeman is the monthly publication of The talitarian state, it is not enough that a man should Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533 (914) 591­ be prepared to accept specious justification of 7230. FEE, founded in 1946 by Leonard E. vile deeds; he must himself be prepared actively Read, is a nonpolitical educational champion of to break every moral rule he has ever known if private property, the free market, and limited government. FEE is classified as a 26 USC 501 this seems necessary to achieve the end set for (c) (3) tax-exempt organization. Other officers him. Since it is the supreme leader who alone de­ of FEE's Board of Trustees are: Thomas C. tennines the ends, his instruments must have no Stevens, chairman; Ridgway K. Foley, Jr., vice­ chairman; Paul L. Poirot, secretary; H.E Lan­ moral convictions of their own. They must, above genberg, treasurer. all, be unreservedly committed to the person of the leader; but next to this the most important The costs of Foundation projects and services are met through donations. Donations are thing is that they should be completely unprinci­ invited in any amount. Subscriptions to The pled and literally capable of everything.... Freeman are available to any interested person "Yet while there is little that is likely to induce in the United States for the asking. Additional single copies $1.00; 10 or more, 50 cents each. men who are good by our standards to aspire to For foreign delivery, a donation of $15.00 a year leading positions in the totalitarian machine, and is required to cover direct mailing costs. much to deter them, there will be special oppor­ Copyright © 1989 by the Foundation for Eco­ tunities for the ruthless and unscrupulous. There nomic Education, Inc. Printed in the U.S.A. will be jobs to be done about the badness of Permission is granted to reprint any article in which taken by themselves nobody has any this issue, except "Free Market Money in Coal­ Mining Communities" and "Movie-Goers Can doubt, but which have to be done in the service Think for Themselves," provided appropriate of some higher end, and which have to be execut­ credit is given and two copies of the reprinted ed with the same expertness and efficiency as any material are sent to The Foundation. others. ... The readiness to do bad things be­ Bound volumes of The Freeman are available comes a path to promotion and power. ... It is from The Foundation for calendar years 1969 only too true when a distinguished American to date. Earlier volumes as well as current is­ sues are available on microfilm from University economist [Frank Knight] concludes from a simi­ Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, lar brief enumeration of the duties of the authori­ MI48106. ties of a collectivist state that 'they would have to The Freeman considers unsolicited editorial do these things whether they wanted to or not: submissions, but they must be accompanied by and the probability of the people in power being a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Our au­ individuals who would dislike the possession and thor's guide is available on request. exercise of power is on a level with the probabili­ FAX: (914) 591-8910 ty that an extremely tender-hearted person would get the job of whipping-master in a slave planta­ tion.'" -BRIAN SUMMERS PERSPECTIVE OnEnvy The Worst Polluter It is ludicrous to envy anyone who succeeds in Crude waste disposal practices, which the a capitalistic economy. Those who achieve great Federal government banned in the private sec­ financial success do so through their productivity tor a decade ago but allowed to continue at its and are our most efficient servants. Their genius own nuclear weapon plants, are largely respon­ and energy produce the cheapest, the best, or the sible for extensive environmental damage at most desirable products that we buy. If they those plants. ... didn't, we wouldn't buy, and they wouldn't be so At the Portsmouth Uranium Enrichment rich. Ours is truly a symbiotic relationship. Our Complex in Piketon, Ohio, workers dumped oil good fortune is their good fortune-and vice ver­ on the soil and plowed it under until 1983, failing sa. Their genius and energy are ours for the pur­ to analyze it for cancer-causing solvents that have chase price of their goods and services. now contaminated the underground water and -JIM RUSSELL threaten drinking water supplies. ... Beachwood, Ohio At the Savannah River Plant near Aiken, S.C., wastes laden with radioactive and chemical pollu­ tants were dumped until the mid-1980's into seep­ age lagoons. ... Beyond Numbers At the Pinellas Plant in Largo, Fla., toxic sub­ stances have been discharged into the Pinellas The success of recent privatization efforts can County Sewer System. ... obscure the fact that privatization seeks merely The reports make clear, and experts agree, that to redress the damage done by collectivist actions the pollution was allowed to continue long after and principles. Often those principles are left es­ techniques for controlling it were thoroughly un­ sentially unchallenged, even aft~r property has derstood. been returned to private hands. The strong anti­ -MATTHEW L. WALD, property, anti-capitalist bias of government offi­ writing in the December 8,1988, cials is still largely intact. Some officials may have New York Times concluded that government action in the market­ place is inefficient, but few think it immoral. Equal Rights We will not make real progress in shrinking the size of government if we only react to govern­ Do rights exist in the individual or in the ment programs and if our reaction consists only group? If rights exist in the individual, then there of bar graphs and balance sheets. The figures, are no other rights that come with belonging to while providing empirical evidence against state any group. A cajun does not have more rights be­ intervention, apply to only one specific case at cause he belongs to a group labeled "cajuns" be­ any time; there is nothing to carry over, no "big cause there is no such thing as "cajun rights." A picture" to leave people with. The fact is that black does not have more rights than non-blacks most people will countenance a good bit of ineffi­ because he joins other blacks to form a politically ciency if they believe it to be for a good cause. active group. Therefore, there's no such thing as The goal should be to nip plans to expand gov­ "black rights" per se, but only individual rights ernment in the bud, before a protective con­ that are the same for any black, white, cajun, and stituency sprouts up. To accomplish this, the everyone else. mind-set of decision-makers in government must -KEVIN SOUlHWICK, be changed. Such a change can occur only when editor, Centre Democrat, the intellectual battle moves beyond simple num­ Bellefonte, Pennsylvania ber crunching. For success, the conflict must be waged where notions of freedom and liberty are the most compelling-the realm of ideas. - JEFF A. TAYLOR Kingstree, South Carolina 380 THEFREEMAN IDEAS ON LIBERTY A Triumph for Bootstraps Capitalism by Clint Bolick go Brown never fancied himself a crusad­ years ago.
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