What I Don’t Understand

There are so many things I don’t understand I would hardly know where to start but one particular issue I don’t understand is those who think we need more socialism. There are only two known ways of allocating resources: markets or politically. When resources are allocated politically the only people who really benefit are those doing the allocating.

I completely understand dissatisfaction with the results when markets allocate resources. That’s why practically all modern economies are hybrids. For example, I think that imposing regulations and inspections on food and pharmaceuticals is completely reasonable. Those inspections and regulations necessarily engender distortions in the market that require further interventions. The art of government is a constant balancing act, requiring insight, deftness, persistence, and attention to detail, all qualities sadly lacking in our present Congress.

IMO what we actually need is not more allocation of resource politically but a greater willingness on the part of the Congress to offset the adverse consequences of their own interventions. But that’s the matter for a different post.

10 comments… add one
  • steve Link

    Just to use public health as an example, if a few public officials decided to invest in some vaccine, say polio or measles, you would make the case the the allocation of funds and spending would benefit only those few public officials? I think I would have said that when resources are allocated politically they are just more likely to be misallocated compared with markets that are functioning optimally.

    Steve

  • you would make the case the the allocation of funds and spending would benefit only those few public officials

    Maybe, maybe not. I think you would be amazed at how often these investments turn out to be benefiting officials directly or indirectly.

  • Andy Link

    Steve,

    I spent most of my life in the federal government. I don’t think it’s always the case that someone’s bread is getting buttered. I think regulatory and other forms of capture (such as having one or only a limited number of vendors to choose from) are probably a bigger problem at the lower and mid-levels. At the high levels, I do think there is a lot of graft. The Air Force KC-767 tanker replacement program was one instance I have some direct knowledge of.

    I think the human problem is best summarized by the famous Lord Action quote on corruption.

  • I don’t think it’s always the case that someone’s bread is getting buttered.

    That reminds me of the wisecrack that 90% of lawyers give the others a bad name. No, it’s not always the case. I have seen the inner workings of more than one government agency at the local, state, and federal levels. I’m prepared to believe that there are cases where somebody’s bread isn’t “getting buttered”. I haven’t seen any but I’m prepared to believe it.

    I also think that most lower level and even mid-level people are conscientious and hard-working (or at least believe they’re working hard). But once you get to a rung or so up the ladder to where the political appointees begin to show up?

  • TarsTarkas Link

    Socialists trust the government (or at least want you to trust the government) and distrust the people. Conveniently forgetting that government is made up of people. Free markets unless constrained by government give people a least an illusion of choice and thus help keep the unscrupulous in some check. Not so with socialism, where the only constraint on corruption and thievery is frequently catastrophe (the building falls down before it is finished because all the nails were stolen).

    Socialism cannot work as long as people are individuals, something which is biologically determined by our method of reproduction. The closest thing to true socialism in nature are colonial insects, where the vast majority of the individuals in the hive/nest are genetically identical and thus disposable once their usefulness drops below their cost of maintenance. Yay, socialism! I want to be a terminte or a worker bee!

  • Socialism cannot work as long as people are individuals, something which is biologically determined by our method of reproduction.

    Have you ever read Brave New World?

  • Guarneri Link

    “I have seen the inner workings of more than one government agency at the local, state, and federal levels. I’m prepared to believe that there are cases where somebody’s bread isn’t “getting buttered”. I haven’t seen any but I’m prepared to believe it.”

    Heh. Me too. Thanks for cutting through the bullshit in comments.

  • Guarneri Link

    I loved the guts of the post. As I’ve long said, wishing for Congress (government) to behave is like Waiting for Godot. There are only two solutions, term limits or limited government scope. But the schools are corrupted, the voters lazy, the media propagandists and effecting change therefore extremely difficult.

    My only hope is that the true absurdity of the BLM etc movement, and the slavish pandering by Democrats, is a mirage. If not, me and mine will be fine, but I doubt the vast majority will. So unnecessary. So unfortunate.

  • TarsTarkas Link

    ‘Socialism cannot work as long as people are individuals, something which is biologically determined by our method of reproduction.

    Have you ever read Brave New World?’

    Despite ‘cloning’ the people of that society weren’t identical, even within the various castes. Otherwise there wouldn’t even have been a plot.

    For another dystopian take on a clonal human society read James Tiptree Jr’s (pseudonym of Alice Sheldon) ‘Houston, Houston, do you read?’ where all the males had all died off due to an epidemic.

    Existence for the sake of existence, which seems to be the purposes of these types of society, isn’t my cup of coffee and I doubt it’s yours.

  • Greyshambler Link

    We’re all born small and dependent, some people as they grow see opportunities in freedom, others see danger and long for security.

    As to aggressive, proactive politicians who promote socialism, it’s their ticket to power, no one believes or expects Bernie Sanders to take a vow of poverty or equality personally do they?

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