@EricCrampton I believe in freedom too, just don't believe I can/should impede freedom of others! All good things in moderation...
— Ron Versteeg (@RVersteeg1) July 24, 2012
@RVersteeg1 And the freedom for a farmer to have a cow and sell its milk without having to buy permission from a cartel?
— Eric Crampton (@EricCrampton) July 24, 2012
@EricCrampton Does not override the freedom of a majority of Canadian farmers to get a fair price for their milk....
— Ron Versteeg (@RVersteeg1) July 24, 2012
@RVersteeg1 What of the freedom of a majority of milking machine manufacturers to get a 'fair' price by setting their own cartel?A good answer would have talked about cyclical weather effects hitting ag but perhaps not other industries; I'd then have pointed to potentials for insurance or hedging, and that plenty of industries face cyclical demand but haven't managed to establish a government-enforced cartel.
— Eric Crampton (@EricCrampton) July 24, 2012
If freedom means "the freedom to get the price I want by making it illegal for anyone to compete with me", we've moved completely to EngSoc.
Great example of how the free world has been turned on its head. Orwell always said it had to start with the language.
ReplyDelete... I thought from the subject line this post was going to be about those idiot cigarette closets in dairies from Monday: life like you lived it in Kindy.
ReplyDeleteEric, do you have a take on the current British milk fuss? Looking at the news reports the market there seems to be rather broken too.
ReplyDeleteI really haven't been following the UK situation. It would take me a couple hours' work just to get up to speed on where policy had gotten to prior to the mess they're now in. EU dairy policy has had all kinds of weirdness built into it, but I don't know what the UK has been like.
ReplyDeleteEngSoc is right. "Freedom of a majority of Canadian farmers to get a fair price for their milk" indeed. I'm sure the Canadian dairy farmers Mr. Versteeg represents would be thrilled if they had to pay a "fair price" set by lobby-approved government fiat for, say, their cars, computers, televisions etc.
ReplyDeleteIt would be fair if every input used in a supply managed industry were subject to a 300% tariff. To help ensure the quality and continued viability of Canadian-made inputs.
ReplyDeleteIn that case, everyone would be protected by tariff, and everyone would be rich. Problem solved.
ReplyDeletePaging Dr. Bastiat...
Nah, target it REALLY specifically. Imports of milking machines: 300% tariff. Dairy cattle supplements or medicines especially used in dairying: 300% tariff. Imports of semen for AI for dairy cattle: 300% tariff. Go through some dairy barns, write down everything that's in use, and put a 300% tariff on it.
ReplyDelete