Maybe Economists can be "Racist" Too

Prof. Walter Block has recently got himself into some trouble over some "offensive" remarks he made at Loyola College in Maryland. Prof. Block dared to claim that women and blacks earn lower wages because they tend, on average, to have a lower marginal productivity.

This is the same explanation put forth by our very own Taylor Somers in the last issue of The Observer. And, of course, Prof. Block got the same treatment as Mr. Somers. It is not politically correct to assert that these groups do not face systematic discrimination, but could really just be less productive. As Prof. Block says: "After all, if black people had the same productivity as white people on average, but were paid less, then there would be profit opportunities available to all those who hired blacks and fired whites, and such a situation could never last." The same holds true for women.

How are we supposed to address these problems - if that is even desirable - when politically incorrect explanations are rejected without discussion? Alas, we seem to be haunted by this ill-defined specter we call "inequality" or "discrimination." No one can see it, but it is still there. If you reject its existence, then you are a racist or bigot or some other epithet. Until we redefine the acceptable parameters of debate, I suppose we will never truly address these issues.

Who hopes for what he already has?

The Sermon Lesson at church yesterday was a passage from Romans chapter 8. Specifically, verses 23-25 stuck out in my mind:

Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Hearing the word "hope" instantly turned my mind to Barack Obama. This word, along with "change," is unsheathed by his campaign continuously. "But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?" Indeed, America has already become a social democracy. Not on the grand scale of our European contemporaries, but we are following hard and fast. Progressive taxation, government centralization, and rampant multiculturalism are already upon us. What kind of hope is this? Hope that we can put this nation on a quicker path to self-destruction?

I believe it is still within my right to hope. I will await patiently the day when property rights and traditional values are respected. I will hold some hope that, while the rest of society is imploding, there will be a few left who are prepared to put it back on track. But Barack Obama's hope is no hope at all. His plans are just the same-old government tricks disguised as something new.