Dear Friends,
It seems to me, central planning is when people who don’t know how to farm tell farmers how to grow things, people who can’t build tell those who can build how, and people without a whit of common sense tell others with it what to think. It’s hard to believe it has persisted as long as it has. In fact, central planning has been failing since Diocletian’s price controls. I’m not a big fan of FDR, but I agree with one thing he said, The further one is from a farm the easier it is to grow corn… No truer words have ever been spoken… and by a central planner no less! The truth of it is this, central planners are people who exist deep in the Dunning Kruger Effect. It’s not their fault though. We all assume we know more about things we know nothing about than we actually do. They just act on it.
From a car window, doing seventy miles per hour on a highway, farming looks pretty easy. Ride around on a tractor and a few months later do it again. How hard could that be? Such people become self-righteous looking down on farmers. How could a business that easy ever go bankrupt? Then, when we go to the supermarket, we lament the greed of farmers for the cost of food. So when a demagogue claims inflation is because of a farmer’s greed, people fall for the con. The reality of farming is it’s not a once every few months job… it’s a 24/7 job. No holidays, no vacations, and no let up. Farming is constant pressure. Why? Farming is a business that faces perfect competition, weather, and predatory banks. Farmers don’t set prices, markets do, that’s why farmers lose money more than they make it.
I have met a few bureaucrats, not all of them, so my experience is anecdotal, but I have yet to meet one who is capable. Though I am absolutely convinced that there must be some who can build things with their hands… though I haven’t met him or her. Those that can’t, however, are convinced they need to control those that can. From the comfort of a heated and air-conditioned cubicle, they understand the reality of a builder’s life better than a builder. A builder is someone who gets up before dawn, works in the elements, has years of hands on experience, and intimate knowledge of the trade. That person has to submit to someone’s authority who has never nailed two boards together in their life. This is because those in power believe they’re smarter, wiser, and better at everyone’s job than the rest of us.
Around 300 AD the Roman Emperor Diocletian imposed strict price controls on penalty of death. He wanted to stem the greed of the merchants who kept raising prices. The devaluation of the currency by seigniorage wasn’t considered a factor. The results were predictable as is dew the morning after rain. Economic turmoil and black markets sprang up. Why? Human beings are all self interested, not only the elite. Those self interested elite central planners, however, expect others to diminish their lot so the central planner’s can increase. In other words, since the Roman empire, and before, central planning has converted productive societies into extractive ones. Elite central planners, however, are not to blame, they are victims of the Dunning Kruger Effect.
Stupidity is a quality of human nature. It’s always dangerous, but only disastrous when stupid people are given power. A lone fool can win a Darwin Award, and maybe take a few others too. But the damage of stupidity is limited when the fool has no power. Stupidity is magnified by authority. Someone who’s convinced that they understand farming, building, and business better than those who do them, will impose the most absurd regulations with a clean conscience. If the cows given fart free food die, well, that’s just details. The cubicle stays warm, the cafeteria stocked, and the paycheck keeps rolling in. The farmer may lose the farm, the builder lose the business, and the economy may collapse… but “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or one.” Unless that “one” has authority.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
Limericks
Dear Friends,
Another failure of central planning,
Bureaucrats in dire need of canning,
But not to worry,
They’re in a hurry,
Corrupting laws and wrongspeak banning.
The faction that wants arbitrary rule,
They use our Constitution as a tool,
Our rights are yanked,
Theirs are sacrosanct,
And not reciprocating is the act of a fool.
Canadian regulations make us drool,
They amount to a razor sharp little tool,
Slicing the carotid,
Businesses rotted,
And anyone who invests in Canada is a fool.
Labour and the Tories are in a quiver,
Sold their constituents down the river,
People are mad,
It’s not just a fad,
But I have to wonder if Reform will deliver.
There once was a central planner _______,
She foolishly usurped with regulations abrupt,
A Canadian Tory,
With a personal ____,
And in righteous anger did she often _____.
Sincerely,
John Pepin