The Great Idiocy
“'Please understand that we are keen to move toward a market economy,' a senior Soviet official whose responsibility had been to provide bread to the population of Saint Petersburg in its communist days told economist Paul Seabright, ' but we need to understand the fundamental details of how such a system works. Tell me, for example, who is in charge of the supply of bread to the population of London.'” R. Rebonato, Plight of the Fortune Tellers, 10.
From whence such societal idiocy? This was Russia, a country opened up to the ideas of the Enlightenment by Catherine the Great. Sure, it was the French Enlightenment of Voltaire, not the Scottish Enlightenment of Adam Smith, but still, there was significant overlap between the two. Heck, the French Enlightenment had the Physiocrats. Their bogus idea that only land is productive notwithstanding, they were correct about the importance of the market and property rights. Couldn't any of it sink into the Russian fabric?
Apparently not. Communists took over there. The most fundamental notions of the free market–things my teens understand–were forgotten and buried, to the extent reflected in that quote by the Russian bread bureaucrat.
I've written many times about the bruising dynamic that the State's power has on social power: as the State takes care of something, individuals don't take care of it, with the result that the voluntary association of individuals that marks a healthy society deteriorates. With 75 years of Socialism, Russia's society deteriorated completely. It's in tatters today. It's a great laboratory of State power for anyone who cares to as much as glance into the microscope.
This fundamental truth can't be divorced from the market economy. It's no coincidence that the Marxist fixates on the economic: he knows that economic drives all else. If he can control the economy, he can control society . . . or at least destroy it, with the result that the State can make a stronger claim to its need for more power.
Doubt me? Watch Washington, D.C. As things get worse, they'll grab more and more of the economy. As society deteriorates further, they'll claim more and more need for power. It's the continuation of a dynamic that started with FDR (or Woodrow Wilson, I'm open to debate on that issue) and that keeps spiraling downward.
As a general rule, we don't need welfare for pregnant single women because they're economically vulnerable. They're economically vulnerable because we provide welfare. The family breakdown accelerated after FDR decided to take care of functions that properly rest with the family . . . and the inner-city family completely shattered with LBJ decided to take care of all family functions.
Likewise, we don't need regulation of bankers because the system is corrupt. The system is corrupt because the State made private bankers too powerful through the Federal Reserve.
Look at Russia and its rampant idiocy today. That's the stupid medicine we're taking today in the United States.
