Rothbard's Parable of the Ham Sandwich

[Alan C.]

How do you make a ham sandwich? Ask somebody on the street and they'll probably tell you that you need two slices of bread, a slice of ham, maybe a slice of cheese, and some mayo.

 

The capitalistic order of production (aka the 'invisible hand') is far more complicated, but it brings all of the ingredients together, and makes them available on the grocery store shelves at a low price without central planners.

 

Rothbard explains:

 

 

Somebody did an experiment to see how much it would cost, and how much work it would entail, to make a sandwich from scratch.

 

It takes $1500, 6 months, and a lot of farming to truly make a sandwich at home from scratch

 

 

Of course, it actually takes far more work and expense, but you get the idea.

[Alan C.]

Guy makes suit almost entirely from scratch. Costs $4K and takes 10 months. Again, demonstrating the importance of division of labor. Without private property, free exchange, and money prices, we would all be living under grinding poverty, growing our own food, making our own clothes, building our own shelters, and millions would die of starvation and exposure.

 

[DaVinci]

Thanks for sharing these videos. Do you think division of labor is becoming frowned upon? 

[Alan C.]

I don't think it's being frowned upon. I think the vast bulk of people in society don't have the slightest idea what it is, its implications, or its necessary requisites, let alone knowledge of basic economics, and they probably couldn't care less.

 

Division of labor is the reason why billions of people are alive, fed and sheltered reasonably well, and accorded a slew of labor-saving devices.

 

Civilization is like a fabric. The State is pulling on its threads. Take a gander at Venezuela to see what happens when the fabric begins to unravel.

[DaVinci]

I don't think it's being frowned upon. I think the vast bulk of people in society don't have the slightest idea what it is, its implications, or its necessary requisites, let alone knowledge of basic economics, and they probably couldn't care less.

 

Division of labor is the reason why billions of people are alive, fed and sheltered reasonably well, and accorded a slew of labor-saving devices.

 

Civilization is like a fabric. The State is pulling on its threads. Take a gander at Venezuela to see what happens when the fabric begins to unravel.

I didn't take an economics class until college and I don't think I learned about division of labor even then. 

[mlsv2f]

I didn't take an economics class until college and I don't think I learned about division of labor even then. 

 

We had one freshman in high school and it was awful. I don't think the teacher had an economics degree or anything remotely related, but it was typical capitalist bashing, your from a disadvantaged area so give up now, america should be like Europe, White Guilt ect. We never once hit basic principles like comparative advantage, opportunity costs, allocation of resources, ect.

[Pelafina]

Here is a TED talk about how he built a toaster from scratch.