...in response to Jay Fray

This has been posted in comments section in reply to “Stimulus creates new Jobs for Americans” (1/24/09), but I am posting the reply nevertheless:


We do not need to compete for lower paying jobs in third-world countries. As Adam Smith would have seen it, we have an advantage in some areas (capital markets and innovation) and we benefit from those products we can import at rates less costly than we could produce.

Take, for instance, an attorney; the attorney can type 75 wpm. If his secretary can only type 50 wpm should the attorney type the letters? The answer is that the greatest utility for the attorney is in doing what can return the greatest value to his organization. The natural tendency of market forces to operate most efficiently without government intervention is a principle that is undeniable.

I defer to Adam Smith:

“Two greyhounds, in running down the same hare, have sometimes the appearance of acting in some sort of concert. Each turns her towards his companion, or endeavours to intercept her when his companion turns her toward himself. This, however, is not the effect of any contract, but of the accidental concurrence of their passions in the same object at that particular time.”


Keyword: management cadre, global economy, international business, exchange rates, economic incentive, foreign investment