The only monopolies in the world are run by or given license by the government.
On Aug 7, 5:49 am, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > Single-Payer Groceries, Anyone?by Thomas J. DiLorenzo > The American Socialist Party (ASP), whose members entertainingly call > themselves "Democrats," is determined to use its control of the executive and > legislative branches of government to destroy the private health insurance > and healthcare industries in favor of "single-payer" healthcare. Of course, > when government is the single payer that meansgovernment-run monopoly. > Average people instinctively understand that monopoly is never in their best > interest, but to politicians who will administer and benefit from the > monopoly the thinking is apparently "it’s good to be the monopolist," as Mel > Brooks might say. > Moreover, there is no reason to believe that they will stop there. If a > government-run monopoly is good for healthcare, they will eventually argue, > why not food, cars, and other essentials of modern life? Theyaresocialists, > after all. > Since I always try to keep a step ahead of the bad guys, it will be useful to > think through how say, a single-payer grocery industry would work. Such an > exercise will also teach us some lessons about what can be expected of a > "single-payer," government-run healthcare monopoly. > Here’s my take on how central planning for the new American single-payer > grocery industry monopoly would work: First, all groceries will be paid for > by the taxpayers, who are sometimes confused with "government" by the media. > Anyone at any time – even illegal aliens – can walk into a grocery store and > walk out with whatever groceries and other items they "need." A national > government I.D. will be needed so that the state can "track" our grocery > purchases with it. It will be as easy to obtain for illegal aliens as it is > for citizens, since illegal aliens are such an important voting block in > support of the American Socialist Party. The government grocery stores will > keep track of all food purchases so that they can better administer the > state’s new anti-obesity/mandatory exercise campaign. The stated purpose of > this "campaign" will be to cut healthcare costs by forcing us all into > healthier lifestyles (as defined by the state). With government in charge of > health and lifestyle planning, that old saying will be altered to say "a ton > of prevention for an ounce of cure." > Since the laws of economics have not been repealed, one problem is that since > groceries are free, many people will tend to consume far more than is > necessary. Cats and dogs will dine on filet mignon, salmon, and sushi, for > example, which might drive the pet food industry out of existence. Good > riddance, some would say. In economics lingo, there will be an explosion of > consumer demand, which will cause a subsequent explosion in costs in most of > the food industries (these are called "increasing cost industries" by > economists, since average costs of production tend to increase as they > expand). Thus, "free" food will become expensive beyond belief. This > phenomenon is what economists call "the moral hazard problem" of government > subsidies. > In response to the government-created explosion of food costs, the government > will wage nationwide propaganda campaigns to raise taxes, complete with > televised pictures of starving babies, similar to the "feed the children" > television commercials that raise charitable donations for starving children > in the Third World. All opposition to the tax increases will be denounced by > Nancy Pelosi and her comrades as "Hitler-like," and worse. > The booboisie will eventually recognize that the food cost explosion (and the > healthcare cost explosion that will inevitably come with single-payer > healthcare) cannot be paid for indefinitely by the Fed chairman’s > announcements of the printing and/or borrowing of another trillion dollars > this week, a trillion more next week, etc. They will demand that "something > be done" about the out-of-control costs of food as their tax burden > escalates, and the politicians will comply. > Politicians typically have only one response to the cost explosions that > their own policies cause: price controls, usually euphemistically called > "global budgeting," "price caps," or some other deceitful phrase. The new > price controls on food will stimulate consumer demand even further, while > stifling food production and supply, since they will take much of the profit > out of farming, which for the time being will still be in private hands. Food > shortages are the inevitable result, which of course will call for even more > government intervention in the form of a new government food-rationing board, > similar to what occurred during World War II when there were price controls > on food and many other items. The more affluent will be able to bribe their > way into adequate food purchases, while the poor will simply be out of luck, > as they always are whenever government rations anything. The affluent always > have more political influence than the poor. > I would expect the new government grocery stores to be unionized, as the > American Socialist Party will change the labor laws to make it mandatory, > just as the government did with airport employees after 9/11. This will give > tremendous clout to the public grocery union since a strike can literally > shut down food distribution. It will essentially transfer much of the power > to tax to the public employee grocery union. Consequently, grocery industry > workers will be among the highest paid people in America. This will be an > additional cause of a further cost explosion, which will ignite more > tax-increasing campaigns and the demonization of the taxpaying public > whenever it resists the additional plunder. > With no genuine profit-and-loss statements in our new single-payer grocery > industry there will be no way in the world to know whether or not > agricultural resources are being used efficiently, that is, whether say, a > million dollars in grain is turned into food products that are worth more > than a million dollars. When that occurs, there is a profit in the private > sector, but the private sector will be only a memory. Consequently, there > will be perpetual economic chaos in the food industry. We are talking about > socialism here, after all. > Since civil service regulations make it all but impossible to fire public > employees, we can expect the highly paid food industry bureaucrats to be as > inefficient, lazy, and unproductive as any government bureaucrats anywhere. > They will have no incentive to acquire skills that enable them to be more > efficient at serving their customers. Instead, the "skills" they will acquire > will be political networking, scheming, and conniving skills. Politics will > be the route to higher pay and perks, not customer service. > Not to mention management, who will all be political appointees whose jobs > will be protected by their politician/benefactors. Bad management, spoiled > food, high costs, filthy grocery stores, shortages, and all other costly > problems will all be addressed with one strategy: more tax increases and more > government demonization of tax resisters. > Since government-run monopolies are, well, monopolies, any competition > between the government grocery stores will be strictly controlled or > prohibited. The most likely means of doing this will be to assign each person > to a certain neighborhood grocery store, just as the government schools > assign everyone to a certain government monopoly school, and as the British > nationalized healthcare bureaucracy assigns everyone to a specific hospital. > That way, our new government-run grocery monopoly will have a truly captured > audience of "customers." > Black markets for food will eventually crop up (no pun intended), but they > would have to be harshly penalized by fines and even imprisonment for the > more egregious offenses, war-on-drugs style. Single payer meanssinglepayer, > the government will ominously preach. Black market gardening will draw > resources away from the government-run grocery monopoly, which will be > especially harmful to "the children," the state will inform us. This is the > argument that is always made by the state in response to the creation of > private schools, increased homeschooling, or even school voucher proposals, > and it will be repeated if there is any competition for the new government > grocery monopoly. > Some years ago I discussed this scenario in a class of undergraduate students > and asked them if all of these characteristics reminded them of any > particular industry in America. (It’s how public schools are organized). One > student who had grown up in the Republic of China (Taiwan) immediately > shouted, "Communism!" Having grown up in the shadow of Chinese communism he > was very familiar with the subject, and he was right, of course. I’m sure he > would have the same opinion of "single-payer > healthcare."http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo176.html --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
