Comments on: Spectral Analysis

By: Joel Schlosberg

Joel Schlosberg — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 03:02:31 +0000

BTW, the descriptions of the articles from the LRC front page (currently at http://www.lewrockwell.com/index-ss.html but not for much longer):

“Castro Did Not Improve the Lives of Cubans

Can you believe that Hollywood, etc. still echo commie propaganda? Article by Humberto Fontova.

Hollywood’s New Censors

Same as the old ones. Article by John Pilger.”

By: Josh Lyle

Josh Lyle — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:24:11 +0000

The point is also that they shouldn’t be forced to work less than 8, either. The larger point is that they shouldn’t be forced at all. But the overall tide of observation is not back towards 12 hour days of wage earning, but toward sub-35 hour weeks of wage earning and 60+ hour weeks of salary earning, all the while non-remunerative work generally shrinking — we spend a lot less time keeping house than we used to, and the improvements look a lot better if you count women’s work over the historical view. It is far more likely in the near future, given the status quo, that people will be able to contract less remunerative work on a wage basis than they would like than that they would be pushed to take more, and that just as bad if not possibly worse (and not just limits on hours worked matters here, but mandated benefits and taxes and the like). Look at France: deeper regulation of working hours seems to mean a lot of people that can’t work as many hours as they would like to get paid for and many others are pushed out of the market entirely by stringent labor regulations.

By: Kevin Carson

Kevin Carson — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:30:19 +0000

Nobody had ever proposed–or gotten–an eight-hour day before the New Deal. Never mind all that business with the Knights of Labor and the nationwide general strike in 1886.

By: Anon73

Anon73 — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:53:31 +0000

That’s the thing though, the 8-hour day was spearheaded by labor unions and socialists during the Industrial Revolution. It was originally a demand for a 10 hour day, but in most places coalesced into 8 hours. Before it was enacted by legislative fiat, it was something a lot of people seemed to be demanding. So it’s fine if there’s “diversity” in a libertarian society, but if that “diversity” means armies of wage-slaves having no other option than to work 12 hour days then it doesn’t sound very desirable or free. If people really want to that’s fine, but the point is they shouldn’t feel forced to, which was the point of the 8 hour struggle.

By: Josh Lyle

Josh Lyle — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:16:12 +0000

Not addressed at me, but I’m going to run my mouth anyway…

Many of those of us that still have the right to work the hours we so choose work more than eight hour days now, especially early in our careers. Most FLSA provisions only apply to people low on the totem pole — and discriminate against those wanting to go the extra mile to get ahead in regulated jobs. Lots of professions (law, medicine, video games, “consulting”) require time commitments like that to get in the door at most firms.

Given that, what I would expect to see in a free society is greater diversity in the number of hours people work in their primary job; some would have “careers” that they put lots of hours into, some would put in less time at a job to make more room for “hobbies”, just like now, but with more deviation from what is currently an arbitrary norm picked for partial enforcement.

By: Anon73

Anon73 — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:47:57 +0000

Hey Roderick, did you know the eight hour day was brought to the US as part of the New Deal?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-hour_day#United_States

I was fairly surprised by that; do you think in a free society people would voluntarily work 12-14 hour days?

By: Dain

Dain — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:28:34 +0000

Oh, those right wing reactionaries over at LRC. Wait…

By: Roderick

Roderick — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:25:26 +0000

How is this an “alternative” explanation?

By: Attack the System » Blog Archive » Updated News Digest February 22, 2009

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 01:33:09 +0000

[...] Spectral Analysis by Roderick Long [...]

By: Stephan Kinsella

Stephan Kinsella — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:31:07 +0000

Or, as a friend wrote me, “I have an alternative explanation: there are two writers, each of which have some good (but not perfect) libertarian insights, and a libertarian hero (Lew Rockwell) thought libertarians everywhere might want a chance to read the articles.”

I.e., why would anyone be baffled by someone … publishing articles?