Half-Assed in Haggledom

Monday, April 14th, 2008

Fred Reed explains that third-world countries are poor because they’re Half-Assed in Haggledom, and he lists a number of suspected economic laws:

  • The easier it is to bribe a working-stiff cop, the poorer the country.
  • Prosperity varies inversely with the time between beginning negotiations to open a factory and getting first product.
  • National income is inversely proportional to the amount of trash in the streets.
  • Per capita income [negatively] correlates with the average number of minutes by which people miss appointments.
  • Countries that bargain have less money than those that don’t.

His last suspected economic law is not the kind of thing one says in polite company.

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