An economics lesson via cheese – why Government distortions matter in the free marketplace

The back story – Clinton imposed a 100% retaliatory tax on Roquefort cheese because the French wouldn’t accept our beef. Bush pushed that to a 300% tariff because:

…because of persistent sales despite the 1999 levy."

L.A. Times, March 18, 2009

In other words, Government retaliated, not against the French, but against its own citizens for not doing what it though was the right thing. Government did not believe that citizens were acting in their own best self interest – so it punished them some more.

Wait until it happens with healthcare in a socialized, Government run system!

Take the 3:19 to watch this vid that displays Roequefort cheese as a metaphor for Government deciding that it knows better how the marketplace should work and how that distortion plays out.

Best lines?

It will be a decision made for me (commenting that she will be unable to obtain the cheese)
It is not just an issue for the wealthy
It is about removing everyone’s freedom of choice
Choices will be made for you instead of you being able to make your own choices…you won’t have the option of doing so

The takeway is that when Government meddles, the little guy suffers:

the shopkeepper
the wholesaler
the importer
the warehouser
the producer

…and ultimately the consumer through reduced freedom of choice (a diminishment of liberty, as it were) as the signal price of supply, distorted by Government, is out of balance with the true supply price. That distortion then drives the demand signal downward (higher prices mean less purchases), ultimately removing that choice from the universe of choices for the consumer that a free marketplace should be able to proffer.

There will be Statist among you that say "well, Government should be making those decisions for us – after all, some choices are not good for you!". To which I say "THAT is the essence of the Nanny State – that the coercive force of Government is making decisions for me that it shouldn’t." That kind of thinking is insulting – it treats all consumers as mere children that have to be guided by a benign government because the "children" don’t know better.

And thus, the effects of the Nanny State are shown. A free marketplace is one where there are winners and losers – and that includes consumers. Look, if adults DON’T want to take the time to do their homework for purchasing items, they should be able to take that risk.

(H/T: Cafe Hayek)