Led By an Invisible Hand....
12 November 2006
The Editor, New York Times Book Review
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
Adam Smith famously showed how self-interested behavior in markets generally if unintentionally helps others. So when businesses seek greater profits by hiring immigrants, I applaud: the profit-motive prompts greedy capitalists to help poor people.
David Sirota and Lou Dobbs (whose book Sirota reviews) react differently ("Pinstriped Populist," Nov. 12). They're furious that the profit motive creates jobs for foreigners who are very poor rather than reserves jobs exclusively for Americans who are only modestly poor. Sirota's and Dobbs's questionable ethics (and even more-questionable economics) leads them to demand that some Americans forego gains in order to bestow unearned benefits on other Americans while simultaneously denying much-needed opportunities to persons who need it most desperately.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
The Editor, New York Times Book Review
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
Adam Smith famously showed how self-interested behavior in markets generally if unintentionally helps others. So when businesses seek greater profits by hiring immigrants, I applaud: the profit-motive prompts greedy capitalists to help poor people.
David Sirota and Lou Dobbs (whose book Sirota reviews) react differently ("Pinstriped Populist," Nov. 12). They're furious that the profit motive creates jobs for foreigners who are very poor rather than reserves jobs exclusively for Americans who are only modestly poor. Sirota's and Dobbs's questionable ethics (and even more-questionable economics) leads them to demand that some Americans forego gains in order to bestow unearned benefits on other Americans while simultaneously denying much-needed opportunities to persons who need it most desperately.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Sunday July 1, 2007 at 5:48pm