Thanks to Adult Swim re-airing King of the Hill five nights a week I recently caught an old episode that has expanded my list of approved politicians to now feature two: Ron Paul and Hank Hill. The episode is "Flush with Power" from season four.
It makes sense that the only politician in American history whose integrity would rival Dr. Paul's is a fictional cartoon character.
In this episode, the Texas town of Arlen is experiencing a severe drought, and the local government has instituted water-rationing policies. Each household is permitted to use only a certain low amount of water each week until rain returns, and an army of bureaucrats has been unleashed to patrol the neighborhoods of Arlen, randomly checking meters and cracking down on those who defy the policy.
Rationing is a very typical measure imposed by central planners ignorant of economics. Much like the saying that a person who has a hammer sees everything as a nail, city managers see every societal problem as something that can only be solved by the exercise of their power. As if they are wizards holding magical wands, they believe each and every trouble in their jurisdiction can be fixed by regulations and policies.
This rationing policy is very bad news for Hank Hill. Hank has a lush lawn he proudly maintains, but this requires a lot of water. In order to stay within the restrictions of the rationing policy and still leave his family with enough water for their needs, Hank has to let his yard suffer.
If, instead of rationing, the Arlen city government allowed the price of water to freely fluctuate according to supply and demand, people like Hank would be much better off. The price of water would rise, which would result in people who don't value water as much reducing their consumption. This would leave more water left over for those who value the water more and are willing to pay the higher price. With rationing and price ceilings, yes, the price is lower, but the supply is extinguished much faster.
An even better solution would be for the city mangers of Arlen to completely demunicipalize water distribution and let the market handle it. Entrepreneurs would compete with each other over who can offer the highest-quality water services for the lowest price, and the victor would be awarded with the highest profits. This profit motive would make new innovations in water distribution much more likely. One entrepreneur might buy the rights to a water source in another well-hydrated territory and pipe it into Arlen. Another might invent a new, cheap way to desalinize the ocean water surrounding Texas.
Another, more pitiful solution the city managers of Arlen offer is the promotion of inefficient low-flow toilets being issued for "free" (at the expense of the taxpayers being forced to pay for them). This too is a typical response of the central planners: reduce your quality of life by using lower-quality products, citizens, and shut up. Rather than owning up to the problem being the result of foolish government management, the bureaucrats place the blame on the citizens for using the "wrong" toilets. We not only see this with the American government's present policy on toilets, but also with light bulbs and cars.
In the market you never hear entrepreneurs blaming their customers for problems. The customer is always right, and entrepreneurs slavishly have to find ways to continue pleasing the customer. If an entrepreneur held a press conference and told his customers that they need to quit complaining and learn to accept lower-quality products, he would go bankrupt overnight; but with government it is always about making the tax-slave citizens sacrifice and suffer, and about using violent force against those who refuse.
Hank, desperate to have water for maintaining his lawn, breaks down and gets a low-flow toilet.
Thanks to Adult Swim re-airing King of the Hill five nights a week I recently caught an old episode that has expanded my list of approved politicians to now feature two: Ron Paul and Hank Hill. The episode is "Flush with Power" from season four.
It makes sense that the only politician in American history whose integrity would rival Dr. Paul's is a fictional cartoon character.
In this episode, the Texas town of Arlen is experiencing a severe drought, and the local government has instituted water-rationing policies. Each household is permitted to use only a certain low amount of water each week until rain returns, and an army of bureaucrats has been unleashed to patrol the neighborhoods of Arlen, randomly checking meters and cracking down on those who defy the policy.
Rationing is a very typical measure imposed by central planners ignorant of economics. Much like the saying that a person who has a hammer sees everything as a nail, city managers see every societal problem as something that can only be solved by the exercise of their power. As if they are wizards holding magical wands, they believe each and every trouble in their jurisdiction can be fixed by regulations and policies.
This rationing policy is very bad news for Hank Hill. Hank has a lush lawn he proudly maintains, but this requires a lot of water. In order to stay within the restrictions of the rationing policy and still leave his family with enough water for their needs, Hank has to let his yard suffer.
If, instead of rationing, the Arlen city government allowed the price of water to freely fluctuate according to supply and demand, people like Hank would be much better off. The price of water would rise, which would result in people who don't value water as much reducing their consumption. This would leave more water left over for those who value the water more and are willing to pay the higher price. With rationing and price ceilings, yes, the price is lower, but the supply is extinguished much faster.
An even better solution would be for the city mangers of Arlen to completely demunicipalize water distribution and let the market handle it. Entrepreneurs would compete with each other over who can offer the highest-quality water services for the lowest price, and the victor would be awarded with the highest profits. This profit motive would make new innovations in water distribution much more likely. One entrepreneur might buy the rights to a water source in another well-hydrated territory and pipe it into Arlen. Another might invent a new, cheap way to desalinize the ocean water surrounding Texas.
Another, more pitiful solution the city managers of Arlen offer is the promotion of inefficient low-flow toilets being issued for "free" (at the expense of the taxpayers being forced to pay for them). This too is a typical response of the central planners: reduce your quality of life by using lower-quality products, citizens, and shut up. Rather than owning up to the problem being the result of foolish government management, the bureaucrats place the blame on the citizens for using the "wrong" toilets. We not only see this with the American government's present policy on toilets, but also with light bulbs and cars.
In the market you never hear entrepreneurs blaming their customers for problems. The customer is always right, and entrepreneurs slavishly have to find ways to continue pleasing the customer. If an entrepreneur held a press conference and told his customers that they need to quit complaining and learn to accept lower-quality products, he would go bankrupt overnight; but with government it is always about making the tax-slave citizens sacrifice and suffer, and about using violent force against those who refuse.
Hank, desperate to have water for maintaining his lawn, breaks down and gets a low-flow toilet.
The toilets are immediately revealed to be inferior products — requiring many more flushes to dispose of waste than normal toilets. This is a typical result of the government's remedies: not only are they usually unsuccessful, but they also exacerbate the problems they were allegedly intended to solve.
[...]
19 March 2012
Hank Hill vs. the Bureaucrats - Austin White - Mises Daily
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