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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: alanrs who wrote (498638)	7/27/2012 12:32:15 PM
From: skinowski	2 Recommendations Respond to of 793543

Let's imagine that this current drought gets worse and causes food shortages. The Congress decides to come to the rescue and passes extensive legislation about the need for more farmers, for having to develop farms in "underserved" places, in a broader spectrum of climatic regions, and so on. They include - in order to stop overcharges and abuse - certain price controls. One example would be that plain pizza should never cost more than 50 cents, and one with a pepperoni topping - 65 cents. We will assume that all this would be thought through as well as humanly possible. And yet, I submit, this would cripple our agriculture. That's what they've been trying to do with healthcare for close to 50 years. We are talking about 18% of an almost $15 trillion economy, an industry which is as complex as any. It is simply not possible to structure and manage it from top down -- and the impulse to do so must be resisted. I can't think of a better solution than having a safety net for those who can't or won't pay -- and more or less laissez fair for most of the industry. I believe we would be shocked how fast and how well this would work.