23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism — There’s No Such Thing as a Free Market
Posted on February 5, 2011 by No Peanuts! for Translators
When critics of No Peanuts! write to us, they frequently pepper their messages with references to the “free market.” No Peanuts!, they like to tell us, can never work because the forces of the “free market” will always prevail. Or they accuse us of foolish idealism — if not outright pinkoism — for what they perceive as our opposition to “free market” economics.
Up until now, we’ve limited ourselves to pointing out that the term “free market” is a misnomer. There’s no “free” market because someone always pays for it — usually those with the least contractual power or who are considered most expendable.
But you don’t have to just take our word for it anymore. University of Cambridge economist, Ha-Joon Chang, in his book 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism, gets right to the point in his very first chapter: “There’s No Such Thing as a Free Market.”
What there is, instead, as Chang points out, are political and moral decisions about whose welfare (economic and other) most deserves to be defended and about whose rights are more important.
Thus, if you don’t think the right of mega-agencies to reap huge profits is more important than the right of individual professional translators and interpreters to earn a living, you probably won’t consider the philosophy of No Peanuts! to be unfriendly to the so-called free market.
If you have a problem with clients who incite unfair competition by replacing experienced language professionals with students, interns, newbies, and other unqualified translators — and who then demand that qualified translators and interpreters compete at the same cut rates that nonprofessionals receive — then you probably won’t consider the philosophy of No Peanuts! to be unfriendly to the so-called free market.
If you’re convinced that translators’ and interpreters’ livelihoods are under systematic attack by online translator clearinghouses, agencies, publishers, and other clients whose philosophy is “your work and your time are less valuable than ours,” then you probably won’t consider the philosophy of No Peanuts! to be unfriendly to the so-called free market.
We don’t accept the legitimacy of efforts to destroy our livelihoods. We reject the rules — established by others — that undermine the distinction between professional and amateur translators and interpreters. We don’t think there is too little translation work — we think there are too many translators who believe they have more of a right to earn a living than do their colleagues. And that’s a moral position, not an economic one.
Read Chang — and arm yourself for the next time someone tries to dazzle you with a lot of nonsense about the “free” market.
Posted on February 5, 2011 by No Peanuts! for Translators
When critics of No Peanuts! write to us, they frequently pepper their messages with references to the “free market.” No Peanuts!, they like to tell us, can never work because the forces of the “free market” will always prevail. Or they accuse us of foolish idealism — if not outright pinkoism — for what they perceive as our opposition to “free market” economics.
Up until now, we’ve limited ourselves to pointing out that the term “free market” is a misnomer. There’s no “free” market because someone always pays for it — usually those with the least contractual power or who are considered most expendable.
But you don’t have to just take our word for it anymore. University of Cambridge economist, Ha-Joon Chang, in his book 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism, gets right to the point in his very first chapter: “There’s No Such Thing as a Free Market.”
What there is, instead, as Chang points out, are political and moral decisions about whose welfare (economic and other) most deserves to be defended and about whose rights are more important.
Thus, if you don’t think the right of mega-agencies to reap huge profits is more important than the right of individual professional translators and interpreters to earn a living, you probably won’t consider the philosophy of No Peanuts! to be unfriendly to the so-called free market.
If you have a problem with clients who incite unfair competition by replacing experienced language professionals with students, interns, newbies, and other unqualified translators — and who then demand that qualified translators and interpreters compete at the same cut rates that nonprofessionals receive — then you probably won’t consider the philosophy of No Peanuts! to be unfriendly to the so-called free market.
If you’re convinced that translators’ and interpreters’ livelihoods are under systematic attack by online translator clearinghouses, agencies, publishers, and other clients whose philosophy is “your work and your time are less valuable than ours,” then you probably won’t consider the philosophy of No Peanuts! to be unfriendly to the so-called free market.
We don’t accept the legitimacy of efforts to destroy our livelihoods. We reject the rules — established by others — that undermine the distinction between professional and amateur translators and interpreters. We don’t think there is too little translation work — we think there are too many translators who believe they have more of a right to earn a living than do their colleagues. And that’s a moral position, not an economic one.
Read Chang — and arm yourself for the next time someone tries to dazzle you with a lot of nonsense about the “free” market.
Τα έντονα δικά μου. Η συνέχεια στο No Peanuts! for Translators