You’ve probably noticed how fond politicians are of forever
telling us what a great job they’re doing, or would be doing if
only you’d vote for them.
Why to listen to them, you’d think that the credit for rising
living standards, longer life expectancy, better health care and
all the other things it’s so easy for us to take for granted
these days is entirely due to them!
They’re also very successful at creating a general atmosphere in
which people find it difficult to imagine that things could be
any different. By “things” here I mean the tired old routine of
Big Government, financed by bigger taxes, and increasingly REALLY
BIG NATIONAL DEBT, which just represents more taxes on future
generations.
And so they like to generate a semi-permanent air of crises of
one kind or another – just to let you know you need ‘em!
So we hear plenty about Global Terrorism, Global Warming, AIDS,
Tsunamis, the Crisis of Africa, and so forth. Now I’m not saying
that none of these things exists at all – after all you can
hardly miss a tidal wave!
What I am saying though is that whenever you hear anyone spouting
off about these things, a good question to ask yourself is: Does
this man or woman have a career interest in banging on about
this? And if so, do they really have the interests of the so-
called “victims” at heart, or their own?
Oh, and by the way, will their meddling in the situation do any
good at all?
Or maybe harm?
Areas like education and health, they seem to say – oh, and
agriculture and a myriad of other areas, are far too important
for people to be left to sort out for themselves. They might be
subject to “market failures”, which is a term from traditional
economics that I’ve never been able to assign the slightest
meaning to. So you’d better leave it to us, they imply, we’ll
make sure it’s all sorted out.
Of course, they aren’t about to subject themselves to the rigours
of the marketplace, i.e. to test whether people would actually
wish to pay for the “services” they purport to provide Oh no,
that would be way too risky! I mean, people might in fact NOT
wish to pay for them! And where would we be then?
Far safer just to confiscate people’s money. I use that term
because that’s what taxes are. If they weren’t a confiscation,
they wouldn’t need to be compulsory would they? And subject to
the full rigours of the criminal law should they be able to
identify you in paying less than what they laughably identify as
your “fair share”.
Then, having acquired your money thus, we can proceed to spend it
as WE see fit, whilst all the while assuring you that we are
doing magnificent things for you!
The way they talk, you’d think it was their own money they were
throwing at their various schemes and projects – that they were
in effect making charitable donations to us.
They talk of “public service” as though they’re donating their
time and work for free – as indeed you do if you do charitable
work. Look more closely, though, and you’ll see that their
efforts are in fact the precise opposite of charitable.
In fact, it would seem that in their cases charity very much
begins at home!
Not only are they handsomely remunerated for their tireless
efforts in contemplating how to spend your money, but they have
well-padded expense accounts, and they get to go on all manner of
foreign jaunts, junkets and boondoggles quite entirely free of
charge.
And when it’s all over, and they weary of their untiring efforts
on our ungrateful behalf, why then they retire – and the taxpayer
just keeps right on paying their pension, which is invariably
index-linked (inflation-proofed), is based entirely on their
final salary (i.e. invariably the highest it’s ever been) and
would cost any thing up to several millions to buy on the open
market.
In case all of this taxpayer funded largesse isn’t quite enough
to keep the wolf from the door, they can then usually rely upon
finding further paid work in many areas: for example as non-
executive directors of large quoted companies – if there’s one
thing that Big Government unfailingly generates, it’s the need
for Big Corporations to have good contacts within it – especially
if said Big Government is also your best Big Customer!
If Corporations aren’t quite your thing, how about the World
Bank, or the IMF, or any of the multifarious agencies sponsored
by the United Nations?
Or here’s a really good one for Europeans – a spell at the
European Commission! This has become the destination of choice
for superannuated politicians of all stripes from any of the
mind-boggling 25 nation states that now comprise this vast,
sprawling boondoggle.
Salary:Vast.
Expenses: Exceptionally generous and not audited.
Accountability: Zero.
Pension: See Salary, above.
No wonder they flock to “build Europe”! Personally I’d always
been under the impression that Europe was built centuries ago,
but perhaps I’m mistaken.
Seriously, there are literally tens of thousands of these outfits
worldwide, and ALL of them are in the end funded by the long-
suffering taxpayers of the economies of the developed world!
Now if their claims to have improved all of our lives so greatly
in, say, the last 200 years were true , then maybe, just maybe
there would be some point to all of this. But in truth it’s a
ludicrous claim! Take ANYTHING that you might fasten upon as an
example of what’s improved people’s lives over the years and ask
whether its availability today has been influenced in any
beneficial way at all by politicians and other bureaucrats.
Cars? Nope.
Satellite TV? Nope.
Cheap Air Travel? Nope.
Computers and the Internet? Nope.
Low Cost/High Choice Food? Nope.
Low Cost/High Quality Clothing? Nope.
Music? You jest.
Sport? Oh, God...
Housing? Nope (unless you’re unfortunate enough to live in so-
called Social Housing, in which case your firmest aspiration is
probably to get out of it).
Furniture? Wine? Refrigerators? Hi-Fi? Washing Machines?
Dishwashers?
Er...No.
Interestingly, there are two areas of importance to most people
where the Rentseeking Class (as they are referred to by the
Austrian School of Economics) retain anywhere between a MASSIVE
INFLUENCE (America) and ALMOST TOTAL CONTROL (U.K.), with varying
shades in between elsewhere: these are, of course, Health and
Education.
At first blush, it’s not entirely clear why this should be so: in
Britain, for example, almost all Health Care is provided by the
vast, nationalised National Health Service, allegedly the world’s
largest employer after China’s Red Army. In America, Medicair and
Medicaid consume ever-increasingly unsustainable torrents of
billions of dollars, with the same idea.
Yet countries don’t run National Food Services, do they? Well
they did in the now-defunct Soviet Union, but I don’t think
anyone would argue that this system met with the universal
approbation of its citizenry.
Or indeed National Anything Else Services! (Except Education –
see below).
Education, though, including Higher Education, is effectively
heavily nationalised in almost all countries, with very small
independent sectors. Naturally, the independent sectors are
vastly superior.
The effect in Britain, from where I originally hail, is that the
Government actually admits that 30% of 16-year-olds are leaving
school unable to read or write properly. That’s after 11 years of
compulsory, taxpayer-funded education! Suffice it to say that any
private company which performed at a similar level of
incompetence would last only a surpassingly short time.
What all of this goes to show of course is that Governments are
very bad indeed at actually running things (let alone making
them). NONE of the things that make life pleasant, as enumerated
above, are provided by government.
Where Government does seek to provide, as in Health and
Education, the level of such provision is palpably inferior to
that offered by the private, productive sector.
So are Governments actually good for anything? Well, I’d hesitate
to describe these next two examples as representing GOOD, but
shall we say they are highly EFFECTIVE at these:
1. Confiscating, via taxes, resources from income, savings,
investment, production, income, profits, consumption and
spending, and just about anything that might be conceived
of as an economic activity.
2. Debauching the currency. That’s right, that’s what
governments do. In 1913 America founded the Federal Reserve,
in order “to preserve the currency”. Until then $1 was
worth...well, $1, exchangeable on demand for a fixed amount
of gold. 92 years on, a 1913 dollar is worth…5 cents. So
that’s been a success then!
Britain’s track record in this respect has been even more
spectacular. Taking the same 1913 base point, by 1974 £1 had
shrunk to 1 penny. By 1998, that penny had shrunk a further
fivefold, to 0.2p.
As you probably know, the ancient practice of alchemy had as its
aim the transmutation of base metals into gold. Well this is
kinda the opposite of that – the transmutation of gold into…well,
not even base metals, but just paper!
And, so far as I can see (and leaving military affairs aside,
because that merits a whole different article) those are ALL
Governments are “good” for.
Now you may think all of this is fine. You may think these guys
have a much better handle on how to spend your money than you do
yourself. On the other hand, if you’d like to consider not
actually having to pay so much tax, without the fear of the Feds
feeling your collar, take a look at www.advent-taxfreedom.com,
where you may hear something to your advantage.
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