Re: Mayoral race
Daniel C. Burton (dan@antispam.autobahn.org)
8 Feb 1998 01:29:39 GMT
Kevin Dempsey Peterson <peterson@ocf.Berkeley.EDU> wrote in article
<Pine.SOL.3.96.980202190456.26013E-100000@apocalypse>...
> On 2 Feb 1998, Seth David Schoen wrote:
>
> > Jelinek then quickly proceeded to describe 10 planks that he said he
> > would tout until the November election. He called for free AC Transit
> > bus service "within the borders of Berkeley" and said he intends to
> > give small businesses and neighborhoods precedence over big
> > businesses.
>
> Now, if "give small businesses and neighborhoods precedence over big
> businesses" didn't mean, "the evil capitalists are out to enslave us," I
> would go for that. A city policy to (say) give a construction job to a
> local contractor rather than a national company is a good thing, and if
> you don't like it, "vote with your feet."
No, it's not. Such policies provide unnatural incentives for inefficient
forms of production at the expense of ones that produce things of value to
society. This creates a discourages the creation of wealth on a local
level, which rests of the greatest creation of value possible. Ultimately
this damages the local economy, because, though it might encourage
production, it could be the wrong kind of production....
And people will "vote with their feet." Specifically, local businesses
will flee to other areas.
I don't care if there are other localities available to move to. Doing so
is not without cost. Nobody should have the right to take peoples' money
and subject them to such policies on any level of government, no matter
where they are.