Posts in "Walter Williams"

By Nicholas Davies at 7:18PM

Jun 10, 2010

I Could Play Basketball, But I Wouldn't Earn as Much as Lebron James

I’ve heard a lot of talk about how greedy individuals who earn lots of money are morally wrong to do so, while those who are self sacrificing for the good of others are shining examples of humanity. I’m told that if people cared less about money and more about helping others, we would all live in a better world.

I personally believe that any behavior that helps others is good, and in a free market I don’t see much distinction between those who help others selflessly and those who do it selfishly. As Walter Williams put it, “in a free society, income is earned through pleasing and serving your fellow man.”

In other words, your earned income is a good proxy for how much happiness and joy you bring to the world. For example, Lebron James is expected to earn $133 million this year. This is because millions of basketball fans have voted with their dollars that they want to see Lebron play. I could play basketball, but I wouldn’t earn anything close to what Lebron does because people would not enjoy watching me play as much as they enjoy watching Lebron play.

Who does the corrupting?

One of the most convenient bugbears of American politics is "the rich," a group which is apparently perpetually engaged in corrupting well-meaning civil servants, taking money from taxpayers in the form of corporate welfare, and all around screwing the populace over by manipulating government for nefarious purposes.

Does this happen sometimes? Well yes, of course. Corporate welfare is just as immoral and unconstitutional as handouts to the poor -- and far less sympathetic and understandable a cause. In fact, as Ron Paul has explained,

It is not only bad economics to force working Americans, small business, and entrepreneurs to subsidize the export of the large corporations: it is also immoral. In fact, this redistribution from the poor and middle class to the wealthy is the most indefensible aspect of the welfare state, yet it is the most accepted form of welfare. [It] never ceases to amaze me how members who criticize welfare for the poor on moral and constitutional grounds see no problem with the even more objectionable programs that provide welfare for the rich.

And it goes without question that corrupt alliances between government and corporations or wealthy individuals are both wrong and illegal. But the question must be asked: Who does the corrupting? Or, as Walter Williams puts it: Who poses the greater threat?

Slave Reparations?

Libertarian economist Walter Williams is absolutely right about the absurdity of the notion of state-mandated slave reparations. Slavery in the States ended about one and a half centuries ago, so no living person is in any way culpable for the institution. But reparations, as the forced transfer of wealth from one group to another, imply just the opposite.

As individualists, we libertarians need to call the state out for its petty rate-baiting and groupthink. Instead of using issues of the past to foster a culture of collectivism, resentment and perpetual victimhood, the state ought to abolish its own racist policies of the present.