Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance
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Saturday, July 28, 2012
"I, Pencil" Updated to 2012 Version "I, Smartphone"
The "I, Smartphone" video above is a modernized 21st century version of the classic essay "I, Pencil," written in 1958 by Leonard Reed, founder of the Foundation for Economic Education, and explained below by Milton Friedman in about 1980.
Amazing indeed. Someone should ask the Eminent Senator from Nevada if he has an iPhone - and remind him that it is assembled in China (and many parts made in China). This, of course after a bonfire of clothes in his wardrobe that were made in China - or of items in his home, office that have components, systems made or assembled in China.
Someone should advise Sen. Reid to ignore the calls of "hypocrisy", and stand firm. China has only stolen technologies from the First World by offering the lure of a large & easily controlled labor pool.
Thankfully my state has Sherrod Brown, who has made the case against unrestrained trade. One can draw from the plenty of examples where trade didn't result in new work - just complaints from businesses.
juandos: Yet your state has no sense to actually do something about illegals that take any remaining work. Thankfully mine is enacting a SB1070 inspired law to address that - instead of quietly overlooking a problem.
You might be willing to sell out this country, but I'm not.
I think I, Pencil is better than I, Smartphone. I don't think anyone on the planet thinks there is one person who knows how to make a smartphone. On the other hand I think most people think there is one person who knows how to make a pencil.
I, Pencil is better because it shows what everyone thinks of as a very simple product to be the result of a very complicate process. A process no one person on the face of the planet knows.
Ron H.: [baseless comment] Try to be on-topic and to use something more original.
Morganovich: your shoes? Altamas. US made, and less expensive than a Third World-made product.
As for the rest of your rant, you're talking about two dissimilar situations. In addition, every time you come up with a US-based product, it refers to something horribly expensive.
In addition, you prove my point on how the word "consumer" is used divisively. Invoking it implies you have a majority regardless if you have it, since criticism places you in an implied minority, whether based on fact or not. Just skipping to using it as a way to dismiss arguments only makes it as effective as waving your hands and saying "go on, nothing to see here".
"You had better hit what you're aiming at with the first shot, as it'll be a lot harder to do after your wrist is broken"...
Well ron h that particular beauty falls into the category generally called a, 'gut shooter', it is NOT a stand-off weapon...
You shove it right up (very) close and personal and that takes a lot of pressure off of the wrist at the same time increasing your odds of hitting your target...
Really? Huh. I didn't picture you to be the military boot type.
Anyway, there is just one point of fact you may wish to relate to your senator: the majority of US consumer goods are, in fact, made in the United States.
A short list includes: -Automobiles -Anything chemical (tooth paste, dishwash liquid, soap, etc) -The majority of your food -Major appliances (refrigerator, dishwasher, washing machine, etc) -Large electronics -Any animal food you may need to buy -Toilet paper -Your gasoline (or any petroleum-based products, for that matter) -Anything plastic -Unless you buy from a discount store, your furniture. -Anything wooden
The list goes on.
When American companies open up a plant in, say, China, they are doing so to serve that market. Of course, some of those plants are making small things to sell to us (tooth brushes, textiles, and the like), but that is a small minority.
The kind of legislation that Sen. Sherrod Brown is considering would not save American jobs. In fact, it will cost them. Why? It will hamstring American corporations operating internationally. What the legislation would do is make American goods overseas dramatically uncompetitive, thus hurting those very same companies back here. Layoffs would occur (why do you need people managing China if you have no presence in China?). Ironically, the very bill you expect to create jobs would destroy them.
If you truly want America to be great and our people working again, then stop erecting barriers. Manufacturing jobs are not being shipped overseas. That is an untruth that has been repeated many times over the past 2 years and, no matter how many times the Federal Reserve, BLS, Commerce Department, and private companies prove otherwise, the untruth persists.
One thing we know, and there is no disagreement about it, is that trade creates jobs. Some jobs are lost, but the number created far exceed the number lost. Ask Paul Krugman on this: he won the Nobel Prize for this research.
So, if you wish for Americans to get back to work, if you want to see the unemployment rate fall, if you want poverty to diminish and the social problems fade, then remove the barriers. Tear down the walls and let our people trade!
"In addition, you prove my point on how the word "consumer" is used divisively. Invoking it implies you have a majority regardless if you have it, since criticism places you in an implied minority, whether based on fact or not. Just skipping to using it as a way to dismiss arguments only makes it as effective as waving your hands and saying "go on, nothing to see here"."
"You shove it right up (very) close and personal and that takes a lot of pressure off of the wrist at the same time increasing your odds of hitting your target..."
Hmm. Hadn't thought of that, andf it makes perfect sense.
Of course with my luck I would miss at that range. :)
I always try to picture myself a little further away from danger than that, but I suppose it's not always possible.
"Now ron h here's you a potential wrist breaker...."
"Try to be on-topic and to use something more original."
I still get a good chuckle from that one. I haven't used it up yet. You do provide some hilarious images for an active imagination to chew on, but your mother's basement still tops them all.
Is the voice of the iPhone the same guy who did the voice of K-9 in Doctor Who?
ReplyDeleteAmazing indeed. Someone should ask the Eminent Senator from Nevada if he has an iPhone - and remind him that it is assembled in China (and many parts made in China). This, of course after a bonfire of clothes in his wardrobe that were made in China - or of items in his home, office that have components, systems made or assembled in China.
ReplyDeleteSilly & simplistic?
ReplyDeleteYeah maybe but what a great explanation of how free market and pricing works...
Then there's always the iPhone sized double tap to consider also...:-)
Another version of "Preach to the choir".
ReplyDeleteSomeone should advise Sen. Reid to ignore the calls of "hypocrisy", and stand firm. China has only stolen technologies from the First World by offering the lure of a large & easily controlled labor pool.
Thankfully my state has Sherrod Brown, who has made the case against unrestrained trade. One can draw from the plenty of examples where trade didn't result in new work - just complaints from businesses.
I'm glad Sethstorm has Sherrod Brown to represent him. Since neither know anything at all about basic economics, they are a perfect fit.
ReplyDeleteFor those that have a hard time understanding sethstorm and that buffoon Sherrod Brown may I suggest Liberal Logic 101?
ReplyDeletejuandos:
ReplyDeleteYet your state has no sense to actually do something about illegals that take any remaining work. Thankfully mine is enacting a SB1070 inspired law to address that - instead of quietly overlooking a problem.
You might be willing to sell out this country, but I'm not.
I think I, Pencil is better than I, Smartphone. I don't think anyone on the planet thinks there is one person who knows how to make a smartphone. On the other hand I think most people think there is one person who knows how to make a pencil.
ReplyDeleteI, Pencil is better because it shows what everyone thinks of as a very simple product to be the result of a very complicate process. A process no one person on the face of the planet knows.
juandos:
ReplyDelete"Then there's always the iPhone sized double tap to consider also...:-)"
Wow. You had better hit what you're aiming at with the first shot, as it'll be a lot harder to do after your wrist is broken.
seth-
ReplyDelete"
You might be willing to sell out this country, but I'm not."
sure you are.
did you buy a us made blu ray player? how about your surround system? stereo? speakers?
all your clothes? your shoes?
i'll bet you didn't as you slink off every time this question is asked.
you could have. it just would have limited your selection and increased your cost.
you are a hypocrite seth.
yo demand that employers pay more for american labor then refuse to do the same when it comes to buying your own goods.
your position is inconsistent and morally bankrupt.
if one ascribe to the "watch what i do, not what i say" approach, you are precisely the think you repeatedly attempt to vilify.
give it a rest seth.
your anti imports/foreign labor rants are about as convincing as elliot spitzer's war against prostitution.
"Someone should advise Sen. Reid to ignore the calls of "hypocrisy", and stand firm."
ReplyDeleteLOL
That's funny. If Reid was sensitive to public opinion he would have hanged himself years ago.
"did you buy a us made blu ray player? how about your surround system? stereo? speakers?"
ReplyDeleteMaybe you forgot that sethstorm lives in his mother's basement. She can't afford to buy him all those things.
Ron H.:
ReplyDelete[baseless comment]
Try to be on-topic and to use something more original.
Morganovich:
your shoes?
Altamas. US made, and less expensive than a Third World-made product.
As for the rest of your rant, you're talking about two dissimilar situations. In addition, every time you come up with a US-based product, it refers to something horribly expensive.
In addition, you prove my point on how the word "consumer" is used divisively. Invoking it implies you have a majority regardless if you have it, since criticism places you in an implied minority, whether based on fact or not. Just skipping to using it as a way to dismiss arguments only makes it as effective as waving your hands and saying "go on, nothing to see here".
"You had better hit what you're aiming at with the first shot, as it'll be a lot harder to do after your wrist is broken"...
ReplyDeleteWell ron h that particular beauty falls into the category generally called a, 'gut shooter', it is NOT a stand-off weapon...
You shove it right up (very) close and personal and that takes a lot of pressure off of the wrist at the same time increasing your odds of hitting your target...
Now ron h here's you a potential wrist breaker....
Altamas.
ReplyDeleteReally? Huh. I didn't picture you to be the military boot type.
Anyway, there is just one point of fact you may wish to relate to your senator: the majority of US consumer goods are, in fact, made in the United States.
A short list includes:
-Automobiles
-Anything chemical (tooth paste, dishwash liquid, soap, etc)
-The majority of your food
-Major appliances (refrigerator, dishwasher, washing machine, etc)
-Large electronics
-Any animal food you may need to buy
-Toilet paper
-Your gasoline (or any petroleum-based products, for that matter)
-Anything plastic
-Unless you buy from a discount store, your furniture.
-Anything wooden
The list goes on.
When American companies open up a plant in, say, China, they are doing so to serve that market. Of course, some of those plants are making small things to sell to us (tooth brushes, textiles, and the like), but that is a small minority.
The kind of legislation that Sen. Sherrod Brown is considering would not save American jobs. In fact, it will cost them. Why? It will hamstring American corporations operating internationally. What the legislation would do is make American goods overseas dramatically uncompetitive, thus hurting those very same companies back here. Layoffs would occur (why do you need people managing China if you have no presence in China?). Ironically, the very bill you expect to create jobs would destroy them.
If you truly want America to be great and our people working again, then stop erecting barriers. Manufacturing jobs are not being shipped overseas. That is an untruth that has been repeated many times over the past 2 years and, no matter how many times the Federal Reserve, BLS, Commerce Department, and private companies prove otherwise, the untruth persists.
One thing we know, and there is no disagreement about it, is that trade creates jobs. Some jobs are lost, but the number created far exceed the number lost. Ask Paul Krugman on this: he won the Nobel Prize for this research.
So, if you wish for Americans to get back to work, if you want to see the unemployment rate fall, if you want poverty to diminish and the social problems fade, then remove the barriers. Tear down the walls and let our people trade!
"Yet your state has no sense to actually do something about illegals that take any remaining work"...
ReplyDeleteYou can thank the foolish, bleeding heart liberals for that...
I've always been a fan of sure fire deportation myself...
From the Federal Reserve Bank:
ReplyDeleteA total of 88.5% of consumer spending is on items made in the United States.
"In addition, you prove my point on how the word "consumer" is used divisively. Invoking it implies you have a majority regardless if you have it, since criticism places you in an implied minority, whether based on fact or not. Just skipping to using it as a way to dismiss arguments only makes it as effective as waving your hands and saying "go on, nothing to see here"."
ReplyDeleteHuh? What did he say?
Regarding immigrants
ReplyDeletejuandos:
ReplyDelete"You shove it right up (very) close and personal and that takes a lot of pressure off of the wrist at the same time increasing your odds of hitting your target..."
Hmm. Hadn't thought of that, andf it makes perfect sense.
Of course with my luck I would miss at that range. :)
I always try to picture myself a little further away from danger than that, but I suppose it's not always possible.
"Now ron h here's you a potential wrist breaker...."
Holy S**t! I can imagine.
"Regarding immigrants"
ReplyDeleteLOL
That's a good one. Thanks Jon.
sethstorm:
ReplyDelete"Try to be on-topic and to use something more original."
I still get a good chuckle from that one. I haven't used it up yet. You do provide some hilarious images for an active imagination to chew on, but your mother's basement still tops them all.
"Regarding immigrants"...
ReplyDeleteAre you talking about legal immigrants jm or the parasitic, criminal inv?
"I always try to picture myself a little further away from danger than that, but I suppose it's not always possible"...
ReplyDeleteYeah ron h, nothing says Ouch! That hurts! like receiving a pair of 45s fired from a 16th of inch away I'm guessing...
Could give new meaning to, 'stand your ground'...:-)
juandos:
ReplyDelete"Yeah ron h, nothing says Ouch! That hurts! like receiving a pair of 45s fired from a 16th of inch away I'm guessing..."
And since we're guessing, I would guess that very few people who have been shot as you describe actually say "Ouch! That hurts!" :)
More on immigrants!
ReplyDelete"More on immigrants!"
ReplyDeleteI wonder where they hide them? There must be a cache of jobs somewhere.