Chilean miners rescue is a triumph of Capitalism and Free Trade---What else did you expect me to say....

From Carpe Diem:

 ""It is the great multiplication of the productions of all the different arts, in consequence of the division of labour, which occasions, in a well-governed society, that universal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people.""
The Wealth Of Nations, Book I, Chapter I, p. 22, para. 10.

"It needs to be said. The rescue of the Chilean miners is a smashing victory for free-market capitalism.
If those miners had been trapped a half-mile down like this 25 years ago anywhere on earth, they would be dead. What happened over the past 25 years that meant the difference between life and death for those men? Short answer: the Center Rock drill bit, from a private company in Berlin, Pa. that has 74 employees."

          The drill's rig came from Schramm Inc. in West Chester, Pa.

The high-strength cable winding around the big wheel atop that simple rig is from Germany.


Japan supplied the super-flexible, fiber-optic communications cable that linked the miners to the world above.


Samsung of South Korea supplied a cellphone that has its own projector.allowing the miners to see films or videos of loved ones


Cupron Inc. in Richmond, Va., supplied self-sterilizing socks made with copper fiber that consumed foot bacteria, and minimized odor and infection.
In an open economy, you will never know what is out there on the leading developmental edge of this or that industry. But the reality behind the miracles is the same: Someone innovates something useful, makes money from it, and re-innovates, or someone else trumps their innovation. Most of the time, no one notices. All it does is create jobs, wealth and well-being. But without this system running in the background, without the year-over-year progress embedded in these capitalist innovations, those trapped miners would be dead." (HT: Carpe Diem)