Roy Cordato has published a nice John Locke Foundation Spotlight. Fiscal conservatives and friends of justice have, for years, been trying to communicate why it is unfair and bad for the economy for government leaders to abuse their power to charge everybody a few more fractions of a cent so they can give kisser-upper corporations a big stash. Maybe his presentation will be the one to sink-in somewhere, somehow.
Highlights include his reference to FA Hayek’s phrase “pretense of knowledge,” as something experienced by government bodies in projecting the returns of corporate welfare. He also illustrated the amount the state spends on cronies with how much teacher pay that would buy. My only criticism is his story about cement. Granted, it is a short paper, but lest any crony try to discredit the entire work for an oversimplification, I would clarify that limits to land and labor in small markets indeed have tangible limits; but if one company gets a ton of cement, another company can get one, too. The second company may even create jobs upstream for suppliers. But it shall likely be hard-pressed to find anybody to buy it.
