I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration
that if at the end I have lost every other friend on earth,
I shall at least have one friend left,
and that friend shall be down inside of me.
Abraham Lincoln
Poverty and Counterproductive Government Policies
The odd thing is this clip of Friedman from the late 70's at Stanford lecture remains relevant today. Progressive policies usually create more problems than they solve. It's amusing to watch a brilliant free market economist shred a conventional morally self-superior progressive. Some of the problems:
- compensation policies (minimum/lining wage, benefit mandates, etc.) Compensation reflects factors like productivity, labor supply/demand. etc. When government artificially raises compensation, it basically filters employment opportunities. Note, e.g., new layoff announcements since Obama's reelection underscore the reality of ObamaCare
- ineffective public education monopolies
- morally hazardous policies (e.g., people lose benefits by working or gain benefits by spousal abandonment)
- interference with private sector charity efforts (e.g., NYC's health department's restrictions on donated food, etc.)
Being against government help is not the same as being against any kind of help. Why is this so hard for people to understand? Is the misunderstanding deliberate and malicious or does it just reflect a lack of imagination?
But what about people without friends or family? If government got out of the way, there would be more organizations to help people without friends and family. And we’d be better better friends and better family members if government was less paternalistic.
California Voters Dreaming of a Better Day
As if one needs more evidence of a state with a death wish, Californians not only passed Proposition
Road to Serfdom? Maybe We're Already There
Russ Roberts has a post referencing a commenter Jamie Newman whom basically scoffs at the idea we're on the road to serfdom arguing we have extensive unimpeded freedom to purchase, travel, etc.
Several points (not comprehensive):
- Government spends nearly a quarter of GDP and competes against the private sector for resources. It can eviscerate your savings through monetary or trade policies.
- At airport security, even a baby's full diaper is suspect.
- Government "competes" unfairly, through legally enforced means, in education, infrastructure development and operations, security, and other areas
- With Kelo,your property is not safe from government cronies.
- The government can draft you to accommodate imprudent foreign adventures and put you in harm's way or imprison you over participating in the underground economy.
- Zoning restrictions, rent controls, and other policies dictate what you can do with your own property and/or lower its value.
- Government interferes with the function of the free market, including but not restricted to occupational licensing, counterproductive hiring policies, special interest (e.g., unions, "too big to fail") privileges, anti-competitive regulations, cost shifting in favor of special interests, regulations on the sale of products or services, various mercantilist/protectionist policies (tariffs, subsidies, quotas, export restrictions), etc.
People like Jamie Newman are in a disingenuous state of denial. The US hasn't had a free market for some time--and it has snowballed since SCOTUS' immoral cop-out in the Carolene Products case and the blank check it gave progressives in compromising economic liberty through the corrupt Footnote 4. Substituting incompetent, unaccountable government bureaucrats for failed businessmen is not an optimal strategy. Russ Roberts is right in pointing out the salient issue is long-term sustainability. I might add of a clueless Barack Obama trying to remake the vibrant US economy with policies similar to those that have resulted in anemic economic growth and structurally high unemployment in Europe. To rephrase a common investment dictum, past economic success is not indicative of future performance.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Carpenters,"Top of the World". Another Richard Carpenter original and the group's second #1 (oddly enough, it only hit #2 on the a/c chart) This marks the end of a remarkable string of top 10's from 1970-3. Although over the next 3 years they would start a new steak of 6 #1's on the a/c chart, only 2 of those would reach the top 10, their final two.
