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Though it is generally true that those who work hard will earn a living, the sweat of your brow has no necessary connection with the contents of your wallet. The value of your labor does not determine its price . What determines the price of something is the amount someone is willing to pay for it. Nor is there are moral connection - without a voluntary  agreement to pay for someone's labor, work itself does not obligate anyone to pay for it.

Just what is economic anti-realism? I began to think about this during, and especially after, the last election. For me, it has to do with that number, the number we kept hearing about, ignoring and not really understanding, the number sixteen. It appeared, to me, that the last election was a simple, no-brainer. Whatever social position one takes and whether or not one likes a candidate or not, the question was: can we afford to spend any more money we don't have? It doesn't matter much if you think it is a human right to have health care if there is no way you can pay for it. Keeping Big Bird at the cost of more debt just seemed silly. How is it, I thought, that one could get around such obvious problems?