It’s both amusing and deeply distressing to read about self-described “conservative” politicians demanding government action to thwart market forces.
But such continues to be the case in the 21st century, as this anecdote from Cato’s Scott Lincicome shows:
Last week, more than a dozen Florida legislators, including Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, filed a petition with the United States trade representative asking that it investigate fresh fruit and vegetable imports from Mexico and provide “relief” for Florida growers under “Section 301” of the Trade Act of 1974. The lawmakers claim that government programs and low labor wage rates have caused Mexican sales of “unfairly priced” (read: inexpensive) cucumbers, bell peppers, squash, strawberries, and blueberries to surge in recent years, harming Florida farmers. The congressional delegation thus asked USTR “to secure the relief needed to sustain the Florida seasonal and perishable agricultural industry.”
Lawmakers and bureaucrats want you to pay more for produce and new countertops. While the lawmakers don’t say what kind of “relief” they want, it’s clear from the petition that their ultimate goal here is a restriction on Mexican imports and, by extension, higher food prices in the U.S. market.
Because nothing says “small government conservative” more readily than “running to the government for a protective tariff.”
But don’t think the road to statism ends there, or is somehow easily undone. Powerful incentives support and encourage its expansion – through public choice theory:
For that produce petition, we have a classic “collective action” problem:
[E]lected officials frequently advance … policies that confer concentrated benefits upon small, homogenous, often local interest groups and impose diffuse (but larger) costs upon the general public, because only the small groups have sufficient motivation to follow the issues closely and apply political pressure (lobbying, campaign contributions, and votes) based thereon. Because the public is “rationally ignorant” about these policies (and thus does not tie their votes or contributions to them), elected officials act rationally in supporting them, even when the policies are known to produce net losses for the country.
In the current case, Florida lawmakers are counting on the rapt attention of the local farmers who stand to benefit handsomely from any new import protection and who just so happen to be heading to the polls in a few weeks. The pols can promote their efforts on the campaign trail, and the farmers will sit and nod like they always do.
It’s a problem as old as government, and one that plagues both major parties: Rob Peter to pay Paul, so Paul can rob Peter (and hope Peter never notices any of it).
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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DONT need these RINO actions
Politicians… all we can do is choose the one who does us the least harm.
The den of thieves.
Article fails to mention that mexico allows use of sprays on crops that are banned here for health and safety reasons. I never buy and fruits or veggies grown in mexico for that reason as the health and safety of my family is worth the extra cost
That’s a good plan, but what do you do during the winter when nearly all produce comes from central and south America? Our government is allowing food into our country that is slowly killing us.
This is called Antidumping Countervailing and it is already illegal, a foreign country cannot sell their goods to another country less than the market price in their own country
Warding off evil socialism is not an issue. THOSE PROMOTING SOCIALISM NEED TO FIND NEW PLANET.
We don’t need to be importing things that we can grow here. We need a self reliant country.
I saw the most ignorant lying leftist sign on a front lawn while driving out of Hendersonville, NC today. It said that GOP if elected will raise the taxes for “working families”.
I am one of those “working families” and when Donald Trump’s tax relief bill went into effect, my taxes were cut nearly in half, and I make lots less than a 6 figure income!
How do you counter lies like this?????