By Rafe Champion

Sheldon Richman, 'The Seen and Unseen in Gun Control,' The Freeman, October 1998.

Richman draws from the lesson taught by Frederic Bastiat on the need to consider the unseen consequences of policies and events, not just those that are apparent. Consider a broken window. This creates revenue for the glazier, which would appear to be an economic good (and a boost to the GNP). But that is only half the story; the other is the unseen cost to the window owner who has to spend money on repairs instead of using it in some more enjoyable or productive manner.

What are the visible and invisible factors in gun control? The visible factors are the murders and massacres which prompt the demand for stricter controls, also the cases where applications for gun licences are rejected, which probably count as a plus in the eyes of controllers.

The invisibles are all on the other side of the argument. They include the inconvenience and delays for permits for legitimate gun ownership. More to the point in Richman's eyes are the unseen victims, people who might have been saved from criminals if they had been able to use firearms for defence. Richman cites a figure of two and a half million cases per annum of defensive use of firearms, often without discharge of the weapon. He notes that some of spectacular mass shootings were terminated by defensive use of a weapon and might have been terminated earlier if more people at the scene had been armed, not just the assailant.

Virginia Postrel, 'Nailing Down Employment: The economic significance of the manicure,' Straight Thinking, Issue 20.

The author disputes the prognosis offered by conservatives of left and right regarding the future of work and employment in the US. Technology is supposed to be destroying employment and pessimists wail 'We can't all be computer programmers' while others (Jeremy Rifkin in The End of Work) call for punitive taxes on frivolous industries such as entertainment.

Postrel describes the meteoric rise of cut-price nail salons which have moved filing and false nails from the domain of the rich and pampered to a mass market. This has eluded the notice of the Bureau of Labor Statistics which counts 35,000 manicurists and projects 55,000 by the year 2005. Manicurists are licensed in most states and the licensing boards track 235,000 active 'nail-jobs'. The BLS has carelessly mislaid almost 200,000 workers! Postrel comments 'imagine how wrong they can be about gardeners, car washers, massage parlour workers or other non-union jobs.' Perhaps the BLS is just catching up, after all, it did not even record this occupation in 1979.

Part of the key to success of the stand-alone nail clinics is modern acrylic materials. These are cheap and effective, aiding the repair of bitten nails, making the nails smooth and even, hold polish better and permit the Dragon Lady look. The materials were invented by a dentist, in his garage, after a patient who was a manicurist noted the smell of his materials and complained of the low quality of the acrylics she was trying to use. Electric files halve the time required for a trim. After the new materials and technology came discounters and competition in the marketplace. People can obtain a licence with 400 hours of schooling and only a few thousand dollars of capital are required to open a shop. With proliferating salons the benefits of technology pass to the consumers, both in cost and quality of service, and the market expands further.

All of this is girl stuff and it does not speak to the concerns of economists and commentators who are stuck on job losses in steel and the auto industry. But does speak to the condition of future employment by small business and the self-employed in the service industries.

Trang Thomas, 'The Great Wall of Racial Divide,' Australian Quarterly, September-October 1998.

The editorial commentary on this article states that it examines why, in parts of Australia 'we are once again instinctively revealing our latent racist tendencies.' This impression is somewhat undermined by the opening statement that Professor Thomas does not personally experience enough discrimination or harassment to worry her or have any impact on her well-being. The article does not provide any substantial evidence that racism, allegedly associated with One Nation and its supporters, has been on the rise lately.

Racism is a particular form of intolerance, and if we focus on intolerance as the fundamental evil then many of the opponents and critics of Pauline Hanson have a lot to answer for. Professor Thomas writes 'The right to free speech does not absolve those in the political process from the responsibilities of truth, clarity and verification. The onus is on the speaker to prove his credibility.' This of course includes the media and others who lambasted Prime Minister Howard for not being more active in attacking Pauline Hanson and One Nation. These folk might have achieved a hint of credibility if they had publicly denounced the organised thuggery that disrupted One Nation functions in the way that Pauline Hanson denounced racists and bigots who might have been attracted to her party.

The most worrying feature of the One Nation episode up to date has been the licence that the critics have given themselves to abandon good manners, truth and commonsense. This has been done in the name of high principle, by people claiming the moral high ground as the voices of good will and sweet reason. They have also spread their message overseas, promoting the destructive illusion that Australia was on the verge, or maybe even in the grip, of racist hysteria.

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