EWOT Eight

Yesterday, I watched a video about the ongoing protest called “Occupy Wall Street” in New York. In that video, a protester’s argument definitely drew my attention; he said: “…Suppose we [can] produce 100 billion, if we [limit ourselves to] produce 50 billion, look how much employment can be created.” Once again, the sophisms that Bastia strived really hard to eliminate appear in some people’s mind.

Let’s scrutinize his argument; he proposes that if we set more obstacles on the process of production, we can get rich by increasing employment. How absurd it is! What he’s arguing is that the source of wealth is labor. In other words, if we look at the effort and the effects of production, he argues that the more effort we make for a given amount of effects, the wealthier we get. I don’t want to prove you why this argument is false. I will just grant its correctness and then let’s find out what will also be true if this argument is true. If it is true that the more effort we pay for a given amount of effects the wealthier we get, it must follows that when the hardness of getting a given amount of effects is infinitely large, then we are infinitely richer. You can see how the absurdity comes out. If I decided to write this article with a quill rather than with a computer, I have to pay more effort for the completion of this paper. Did I get richer by using an ancient and less efficient way of writing? No! I spent more time and energy on something that I can finish easily in alternative choices, if we consider the value of the extra time and energy I spent on writing which I could have spent on something else, I’m just exactly that much poorer!

This is how the argument goes. I not objecting the whole protest, which actually I think is reasonable and socially beneficial. And yet I do argue that people should winnow out some absurd idea of a few unaware minds to maintain the effectiveness and the validity of this protest.