Economics and political expediency

When Australia imports goods or services from a country where slave-like working conditions prevail, aren’t Australian consumers in effect employing slaves? Do some Australians expect their fellow Australians to compete with slave labour? I would have to re-read my Adam Smith but I am reasonably sure his case for free trade was based on having productive people in each separate economy being paid a comparable living wage. His case was based on genuine comparative advantages such as more suitable climate for particular crops or better raw materials or technology for the production of manufactured goods.

John Ralston Saul has argued that the capitalist case against returns as high as feasible to the workforce fails on its own criteria. If the manufacturing part of our mixed economy screws down the wages of the workforce, or distorts the income stream in favour of the well-off, what happens to the market for the manufacturers’ products? It collapses. Overpaid executives and professionals cannot spend their high incomes on manufactured goods and essential services and the lower paid will not have the income to do so. Henry Ford realised this as early as the T model.

Too often our politicians and economic advisors overvalue brains and cunning and undervalue physical effort both from an ethical viewpoint and an economic one. I once tried this argument on a steel executive. My question was based on comparing two situations. In one, the steelworkers rode to work on pushbikes while professionals and executives drove Mercs. Alternatively the workers had small cars and the others Commodores or Falcons. Which would produce the better outcome for the steel industry? My idea was termed Communist; so much for my enlightenment effort. I am not arguing against adopting sustainable living practices; I am arguing against disparate distribution of incomes.

Why do intelligent and competent people, especially those who have easy opportunity through the media, not try to educate the citizenry about the disadvantages of some propositions and the advantages of others?