The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

412 THE FREEMAN Julytles of exclusive bidding rights toone group of laborers, the stateeffectively robs other men of theirright to bid, and therefore oftheir right to exercise their personaltalents.By this confusion of the rightto bid in the market and a title ofexclusive access to that segment ofthe market, the state increases theemployer's costs of operation, reducesthe union member's opportunitycosts (it does not cost himas much to retain his job, for outsidecompetition for that job iseliminated, by state fiat), and itdeprives nonunion laborers oftheir right to exercise their particularcallings before God andsociety. A man's legitimate rightto bargain for his job, continuously(or whenever his labor contractis subject to renewal), istransformed by state fiat and legalizedcoercion into his right toavoid continuous bargaining. Athree-way bargaining structureemployer,union member, and nonunionmember - becomes, throughthe threat of state violence, a two­.way bargaining structure, as thenonunion member is driven toaccept other employment which hewould not have chosen voluntarily.An exclusive title - a propertyright, in other words - is createdby state fiat, where only a rightto bargain in an open market hadexisted previously.- to a Given Market AreaTrade union members are notalone in this confusion, unfortunately.Many, many businessmeninvolve themselves in precisely thesame error. They use the interferenceof state violence to keepoutsiders away from the marketplace. A three-way structureshould exist: the consumer, theAmerican producer, and the foreignproducer. Instead, the Americanbusinessman seeks to makethe structure a two-way arrangement:the consumer and only theAmerican producer. Like the laborunion member, he seeks to transforma right to bid in the marketinto an exclusive title of entryinto the market. The usual meansfor this kind of operation is thetariff or the import quota. Inprinciple it is identical to the activityof the state-supported tradeunion. Ironically, many businessmenwho derive great personalsatisfaction from castigating the"immoral" trade unions involvethemselves in the same "immorality."The game is the same;state "protection" from outsideinterference - the exclusiveness ofa legal title to private property.Instead of a legal title to disposeof their assets and skills as theysee fit, in open competition, subjectto the imposition of the burdensof the responsibilities ofownership, businessmen want title