Reno Hayek Symposium

We are in the midst of an economic recession, people have lost jobs, can’t make mortgage payments, and some can’t afford groceries. Yet, in the USA the rent-seekers profit by destroying food AT THE CONSUMERS EXPENSE! This is nothing short of a hidden tax benefiting the rent-seekers.

Two articles in this weekend’s WSJ stand out in this regard. The first pictures 72,000 pounds of tart cherries, one farmers allocation, rotting because he was forced to dump them under a price-stabilization program. The second suggests that Obama’s Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilasck will maintain the current import quotas to support the price of sugar despite warnings that there is an impending sugar shortage, even though sugar is used in many of the foodstuffs we consume.

Now, I’m not suggesting that this is an Obama originated problem, it’s an age-old problem indeed. But, it is a horrible economic drag, not only in the USA but worldwide.

I wonder if  our economic think tanks can publish a listing of the rent-seeking drags on our economy and attempt to quantify the economic effects on our society, both here and worldwide. This should be a worthwhile education process for the voters and the taxpayers.

Tom Motherway, tom@renohayek.com