The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Iron My Shirt, Megan McArdle!

Posted on | June 24, 2010 | 6 Comments

She’s a newlywed, but I doubt her husband (Reason magazine’s Peter Suderman) would dare say that to her. Nevertheless, the World’s Tallest Female Blogger seems to be taking a wifely interest in household appliances:

Yesterday, The Washington Post told the sad story of the last ironing board factory in the United States. To protect the jobs of 200 workers, imported Chinese ironing boards are hit with tariffs from 70 to 150 percent.

She goes on to discuss the idiocy of protectionism, which is only one of numerous governmental hindrances imposed on the U.S. economy in the past century.

The attempt to substitute political interference for the efficiencies of market competition always yields bad results. Unfortunately, by the time the effects become apparent (e.g., the bankruptcy of General Motors) the complex causes can be difficult to unravel. Rather than undo the damage of bad policies by repealing them, a society that has become habituated to thinking of government as its economic savior will typically respond by attempting to implement new regulations or subsidies.

It should at least arouse public curiosity that U.S. manufacturers of common household wares cannot compete with foreign manufacturers at a time when nearly 10 percent of Americans are officially counted as unemployed, to say nothing of the so-called “discouraged” workers who’ve stopped looking for jobs. Millions of American workers are available, but are in essence priced out of the worldwide labor market by U.S. government policy.

As Thomas Sowell has observed, what counts with liberals are the good intentions of their policies, rather than the actual results. Acting as if the Law of Unintended Consequences could be repealed, liberals repeatedly make the same fundamental policy error of assuming that economic interventions will have exactly the desired effect, and no other.

Trying to stimulate the housing market, federal policy inadvertantly pushed new home sales to a record low last month. And as the example of ironing-board tariffs illustrates, policies aimed at “protecting” American jobs have similarly self-defeating effects.

Good intentions pave the road to a well-known destination. If you need directions, just ask Megan McArdle to iron your shirt.

I’m sure she’ll be happy to tell you where to go.

UPDATE: About 10 seconds after I posted this, I noticed that what I’d thought was a post by Megan was actually a guest-post by Katherine Mangu-Ward. But I’m sure she’d also be happy to tell you where to go.

Category: Economics

Comments

6 Responses to “Iron My Shirt, Megan McArdle!”

  1. Dave C
    June 24th, 2010 @ 12:47 pm

    You know why the bride wears white?

    So the dishwasher matches the oven and the fridge.

  2. Dave C
    June 24th, 2010 @ 8:47 am

    You know why the bride wears white?

    So the dishwasher matches the oven and the fridge.

  3. dad29
    June 24th, 2010 @ 3:14 pm

    Umnhhh…if only the question were just “unions vs. everybody.”

    US policy of driving manufacturing costs higher includes OSHA, EEOC, income taxes for corporations, ERISA, and pension law (among others.)

    And the US refuses to play tit-for-tat against notorious currency manipulators such as PRChina. IOW, the question has never been “free trade,” it is now and always has been “FAIR trade.”

    But that would inconvenience GE, GM, and certain other beneficiaries of Gummint interference.

  4. dad29
    June 24th, 2010 @ 11:14 am

    Umnhhh…if only the question were just “unions vs. everybody.”

    US policy of driving manufacturing costs higher includes OSHA, EEOC, income taxes for corporations, ERISA, and pension law (among others.)

    And the US refuses to play tit-for-tat against notorious currency manipulators such as PRChina. IOW, the question has never been “free trade,” it is now and always has been “FAIR trade.”

    But that would inconvenience GE, GM, and certain other beneficiaries of Gummint interference.

  5. RES
    June 25th, 2010 @ 6:18 am

    A simple corrective to the problems of currency and tax disadvantages would be to eliminate the income tax and employ a national sales tax. But since it is a) simple b) lacking in ability to manufacture tax breaks politicians can sell c) effective d) oh, about a thousand other things as well, it just ain’t gonna happen. BTW: most of the regulatory factors cited by dad29 are offset by superior American productivity (but they’re working on that, too.)

  6. RES
    June 25th, 2010 @ 2:18 am

    A simple corrective to the problems of currency and tax disadvantages would be to eliminate the income tax and employ a national sales tax. But since it is a) simple b) lacking in ability to manufacture tax breaks politicians can sell c) effective d) oh, about a thousand other things as well, it just ain’t gonna happen. BTW: most of the regulatory factors cited by dad29 are offset by superior American productivity (but they’re working on that, too.)