Friday, March 25, 2011

Cafeteria Libertarianism Question of the Week: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

I suppose I'm beating this one to death but I'm actually not sure what the answer might be.  That is: I gather the Triangle Shirtwaist fire triggered a wave of worker safety legislation.  Would a consistent libertarian find this approach:
  • A naive and misdirected initiative, perhaps well-intentioned but sure to undermine the smooth functioning of the market.
or
In either case, I suppose the correct appelation would be "job-killing worker safety legislation."

Afterthought: when I wrote "holocaust," I was thinking of the other one.  But the shirtwaist fire will do.  

1 comment:

Ebenezer Scrooge said...

"job-killing" is not a libertarian descriptor; it is a Republican descriptor.

Libertarians don't care about jobs. They just care about what they view as liberty. Most of them think that liberty creates jobs, but the jobs are secondary to the liberty.

Which is crazy, of course. No wonder libertarianism is the -ism of choice among 17-year-old virgin boys.