Comments for Miraj Patel

Comment on The Minimum Wage Myth by The Future of Unskilled Labor

The Future of Unskilled Labor — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:03:33 +0000

[...] For one, is the current schooling system adequate for what could be a much more specialized and technical labor market? I would guess not. As even entry level positions in many substantial labor markets start to require specialized training, the current high school graduate would almost definitely have to go through further training to get a job for much beyond minimum wage (and increasing it cannot fix the problem). [...]

Comment on Stimulating Innovation: Policy Gone Wrong by Unintended Consequences in Amphetamine Regulation?

Unintended Consequences in Amphetamine Regulation? — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:34:55 +0000

[...] a few problems here and a lot of it centers around the unintended consequences of the DEA’s questionable policy. The virtual elimination of the generic supply of Adderall and Ritalin has left many [...]

Comment on Unintended Consequences in the Pursuit of Perfection by Unintended Consequences in Amphetamine Regulation?

Unintended Consequences in Amphetamine Regulation? — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:24:53 +0000

[...] there are a few problems here and a lot of it centers around the unintended consequences of the DEA’s questionable policy. The virtual elimination of the generic supply of Adderall [...]

Comment on Vote for MirajPatel.com for the 2011 Blogging Scholarship by Taylor Marvin

Taylor Marvin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 06:47:27 +0000

Best of luck! I’ve enjoyed looking at your work, and it’s nice that there’s someone else in the running for this scholarship that’s interested in politics and economics. I’ll be sure to keep checking in in the future.

Comment on Where is the Eurozone Headed? by Backing Spain to Save Italy

Backing Spain to Save Italy — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:13:12 +0000

[...] Post navigation ← Previous [...]

Comment on The Failure of Success by Where is the Eurozone Headed?

Where is the Eurozone Headed? — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:19:31 +0000

[...] and losses suffered. In the case of Greece, failure (default) will most likely end up being a good thing. For others, they might deny it, but eventually should it come to default, it will likely be better [...]

Comment on The Buy American Myth by Miraj Patel

Miraj Patel — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 05:12:26 +0000

First of all, thank you for the comment (and sorry for the delayed response; I must have missed it in the dashboard)- I always love to hear different ideas and viewpoints. Now, to address your points:

In no way am I claiming that foreign cars are better than American or vice-versa. I am also not saying that Americans should not buy American goods just because they are American. What I am saying, however, is that Americans who buy American cars simply for the reason that they believe it helps the local economy (which is a logical reason and one based on things that are not subjective [although deciding which measures are accurate for the data in question might be subjective]) are falling for an economic fallacy because that is not necessarily true. In terms of jobs, productions, and utility, there are most definitely benefits to free trade and specialization and many empirical studies over the past few decades clearly support that with strong data. In other words, Americans buying foreign cars could potentially have greater domestic benefits (including for jobs, etc.) than otherwise.

Comment on The Buy American Myth by Mike Tozer

Mike Tozer — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 22:21:35 +0000

Mr. Patel,
Since you used the word “myth” I would suggest that the greater myth is “the superiority of Japanese cars” and “Americans can’t build quality cars”. If you will just for a second ponder those unbelievably categorical and ridiculous statements. And please consider that those statements may have been driven by political or environmental agendas – not quality. If your statement that “different…nations are better at making certain goods than others, both domestically and on the international scale” is indeed referring to automobile manufacturers, I would question where you found your “empirical evidence”. Where is their historical or cultural advantage to the American automobile legacy? The Japanese have a “factory” or “quality” gene that we don’t have? And I don’t know what “correlationary evidence” means. Please go to vestalcars.com, research tips, media. Is this the superior quality, business model, or manufacturing skill to which you are referring? In truth, why would anyone want to do business with a company with that track record? You have bought the “myths” hook, line, and sinker.
Secondly, although you skillfully recite a couple tenets of capitalism, the need for free trade and as much competition as possible, globally as well as domestically; to ignore the American labor issue at a time when jobs are a scarce and treasured commodity, is a bit narrow minded itself. Then you continue your limited vision indicating a select few foreign cars built in America as representative of the whole. In truth the complete story of the labor impact of the entire industry when buying domestic vs. import, is 2.7 to 4.5 times a positive affect on American labor depending on which study you read. And if one does indeed not have to settle for less quality, and indeed get more choices (in suv’s and trucks) what “reality” is he “ignoring”? The reality is that you took labor out of the discussion by ignoring the true statistics and discussing partial statistics.
And lastly, how is buying the car I want, regardless of who it profits, any less a self interest” than an American company saying we should buy American. And is a buyer who consciously factors in American labor guilty of an act of self interest? It is probably wise right now to buy an American vehicle and risk sacrificing the lessons learned by the Japanese model.