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| Name: |
MartiniMan
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| Subject: |
Charles Koch on economic freedom
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Date:
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8/16/2012 3:47:45 PM
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You often hear the left foam at the mouth about those evil Koch brothers. I wanted to share with you something written by one of those evil, greedy dudes and see if there is anything in there that a properly educated and not ideologically blinded person would disagree with. In the interest of full disclosure, Koch is one of my company's clients and they are a tough, demanding client but also very fair and ethical. But I would like this anyway.
"In 1990, the year before the collapse of the Soviet Union, I attended an economic conference in Moscow.
Like my father during his visits to the U.S.S.R. in the early 1930s, I was astonished and appalled by what I saw.
Simple necessities, such as toilet paper, were in short supply. In fact, there was none at all in the airport bathroom stalls for fear it would be stolen. Visitors using the facilities had to request a portion of tissue from an attendant beforehand.
When I walked into one of Moscow’s giant department stores, there was next to nothing on the shelves. For those shoppers who were lucky enough to find something they actually wanted to buy, the purchase process was maddening and time-consuming.
Although the government provided universal healthcare, I never met anyone who wanted to stay in a Soviet hospital. Medical services might have been “free,” but the quality of care was notoriously poor.
Reality Check
My experiences in the Soviet Union underscore why economic freedom is so important for all of us.
Nations with the greatest degree of economic freedom tend to have citizens who are much better off in every way.
No centralized government, no matter how big, how smart or how powerful, can effectively and efficiently control much of society in a beneficial way. On the contrary, big governments are inherently inefficient and harmful.
And yet, the tendency of our own government here in the U.S. has been to grow bigger and bigger, controlling more and more. This is why America keeps dropping in the annual ranking of economic freedom.
Devil’s Bargain
Citizens who over-rely on their government to do everything not only become dependent on their government, they end up having to do whatever the government demands. In the meantime, their initiative and self-respect are destroyed.
It was President Franklin Roosevelt who said: “Continued dependence on [government support] induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit.”
Businesses can become dependents, too. If your struggling car company wants a government bailout, you’ll probably have to build the government’s car – even if it’s a car very few people want to buy.
Repeatedly asking for government help undermines the foundations of society by destroying initiative and responsibility. It is also a fatal blow to efficiency and corrupts the political process.
When everyone gets something for nothing, soon no one will have anything, because no one will be producing anything.
Cronyism
Under the Soviet system, special traffic lanes were set aside for the sole use of officials in their limousines. This worsened driving conditions for everyone else, but those receiving favored treatment didn’t care.
Today, many governments give special treatment to a favored few businesses that eagerly accept those favors. This is the essence of cronyism.
Many businesses with unpopular products or inefficient production find it much easier to curry the favor of a few influential politicians or a government agency than to compete in the open market.
After all, the government can literally guarantee customers and profitability by mandating the use of certain products, subsidizing production or providing protection from more efficient competitors.
Cronyism enables favored companies to reap huge financial rewards, leaving the rest of us – customers and competitors alike – worse off.
One obvious example of this involves wind farms. Most cannot turn a profit without the costly subsidies the government provides. Meanwhile, consumers and taxpayers are forced to pay an average of five times more for wind-generated electricity.
We see far too many legislative proposals that would subsidize one form of energy over another, penalize certain emissions from one industry but not another, or place protective tariffs that hurt consumers.
Legacies
Karl Marx famously said: “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”
The result of this approach is not equality, but rather a lowering of everyone’s standards to some minimal level.
Some people worry about the disparity of wealth in a system of economic freedom. What they don’t realize is that the same disparity exists in the least-free countries.
The difference is who is better off.
Under economic freedom, it is the people who do the best job of producing products and services that make people’s lives better.
On the other hand, in a system without economic freedom, the wealthiest are the tyrants who make people’s lives miserable.
As a result of this, the income of the poorest in the least-free countries is one-tenth of what it is in the freest.
Elected officials are often asked what they would like as their legacy. I’m never going to run for office, but I can tell you how I would answer that question.
I want my legacy to be greater freedom, greater prosperity and a better way of life for my family, our employees and all Americans. And I wish the same for every nation on earth.
Charles Koch is the Chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, Inc.
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| Name: |
Lifer
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| Subject: |
Charles Koch on economic freedom
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Date:
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8/17/2012 10:44:56 AM
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One of my sisters went on a church mission to Russia several years ago and was astounded with the abject poverty of the people. She told stories of shopkeepers who opened their doors everyday, not knowing, but hoping that they mar receive something, anything, to put on the empty shelves. If a store got lucky and got goods for sale, the entire town would line up hoping to have a chance to purchase whatever may be received. This was back in the 90's, not so many years after the collapse of of the former USSR.
The most astonishing thing, was like Mr. Koch related, was the lack of toilet paper. One of the first things she did upon returning to the States was go to Sam's Club and purchase a case of toilet paper for each of the host families she stayed with while there. She was told by everyone NOT to ship it in it's original box, or else it would never reach them. Truly sad that something that we take for granted for basic hygiene is a treasure to be horded in other parts of the world. But maybe if we give Oblamer 4 more years, we can get to experience it first hand.
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| Name: |
MartiniMan
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| Subject: |
Charles Koch on economic freedom
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Date:
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8/17/2012 11:54:17 AM
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Sadly the left wingnuts suffer from the delusion that socialism in and of itself isn't the problem. In their warped mentality socialism would finally work if only they were in charge and others were forced to follow their plans. What they fail to realize is that is how it has always worked with socialists and the result is always the same......equal misery for everyone but the leaders.........
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