Argentina is discovering what every other country that's tried to fix prices has already discovered: whoever's in charge eventually realizes that he can't make it stick unless he dispenses with all those tiresome restrictions on political power and becomes a dictator for life. It's not Kirchner's fault, though, right? She had the best of intentions. She just needs everyone to go along for their own good, and they're not cooperating. How long before she figures out she's got to stop her subjects from leaving the country?
What simulated economies have done is not to fix the price, but to merely increase demand or supply.
ReplyDeleteEven for a group of 30k humans in a simulated economy, central control cannot be maintained unless human behavior was controlled too. Thus for freedom to co-exist with an economy, the economy must have a wide amount of interconnections, trade, and choices.
Evita III has arrested economists for publishing price inflation data that didn't agree with what she wanted the official line to be. Stop rising,you prices !Could have been King Canute commanding the tide to stop coming in - except that King Canute had the good sense to realize he couldn't stop the tide.
ReplyDeleteAutocracy-and demagoguery- are embedded into the Peronista gene. Look at Peronista Number One: Juan Domingo Perón.
Consider some of the lyrics of his March Peronista:
¡Viva Perón! ¡Viva Perón!
Por ese gran argentino
Que trabajó sin cesar,
Para que reine en el pueblo
El amor y la igualdad.
Long live Perón! Long live Perón!
For that great Argentine
Who incessantly worked
So that love and equality
Reigned over us all.
Love and equality. Looks like Juan Domingo could have been a Kumbaya Democrat. As we have recently found out,the similarity worked both ways. Kumbaya Democrats have exhibited tendencies toward autocracy- IRS and Fox News etc- that are straight out of the Peronista playbook.