From: Arun Mehta <amehta@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in>
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 13:32:01 +0800
To: Bart  Croughs <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: Re: e$: The Demographic "Transaction" (was Re: Schelling  Points...)
Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19960730023643.002e900c@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in>
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At 19:37 29/07/96 +-200, Bart  Croughs wrote:

>The only effect of more stringent enforcement of anti
child-labor legislation is to harm the children involved. You may
think that the millions of families in Third World countries who
are too poor to provide for their children, will be magically
become rich enough to send their children to school once the anti
child-labor legislation will be enforced. <

This is getting off-topic,  if there is such a thing on this
list, but anyway... of course legislation alone is no good.
Typically, it is accompanied by efforts to provide alternate
livelihood to the older children or parents, free schooling, etc.

>	Child labour in the West didn't stop because of anti
child-labour laws; it stopped the moment the people became rich
enough to provide for their children, thanks to the capitalist
revolution in the 18th & 19th century. The same path will have to
be followed by the Third World countries today.<

Take your point,  though we may be talking chicken and egg here.
If you have lots of children, you and your children never will
become rich enough to change...

>Instead of posting to the net to increase outrage about the
violations of harmful child labour laws, you better begin posting
to the net to increase outrage about the socialist governments in
the Third World that keep their populations in poverty.<

Socialism as an economic philosophy is fairly discredited, and is
on its way out without my expressions of outrage needed to help
it along. Yet, the capitalist economy seems to be no better at
dealing with extreme poverty.

Arun Mehta Phone +91-11-6841172, 6849103 amehta@cpsr.org
http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta/  finger amehta@cerfnet.com for public key