2015-10-07

A Simple Illustration Of How Government Distorts Prices

From Porky Pig:

"The cartoon begins with the sign which simply reads: Porky's Super Service which is the name of his service station as well as the name of the cartoon itself. After the background view shot of his small service station - we see the price signs; as the price for Gas is only 3 cents. Then sign then lists on taxes onto the sign which I guess is a gag but is probably dated as it lists the price for State Tax, City Tax, County Tax, and even Unemployment Tax with the total price adding to 43 cents. Is this supposed to be a Great Depression gag or something."

There's your (classical liberal) lesson.

That's it. That's all you need to know about how government distorts pricing. It's not the market (or 'rigged' market) that makes you poorer (or gives you the impression you're stagnant). It's the government directly reaching into your pockets through multiple sources. The government loves its trailer fees and taxpayers are the land of milk and honey when it comes to getting those residuals.

Apply this to anything from health care costs all the way to post-secondary education.

This is how your chances at achieving wealth is negatively impacted. From capital gains, interest and dividend taxes all the way to carbon taxes as the Quebec government recently wrongly and absurdly introduced in a province already suffering through the highest taxes on the continent.

It's not complicated folks. If something costs '$1' in its natural, free enterprise state and the government imposes taxes on it (for whatever (oft dubious) reasons) thus increasing the price to, say, '$4' they just took $3 from your pay cheque. 

A run of the mill, one-dimensional, statist progressive believes the sole end game of a corporation or business is to try and run up prices as much as they can because of profits. But thinking this way only points to how they don't understand how profits are achieved. Indeed, it's my belief the stuff I read on such sites only cements my notion they're financial illiterates.

A natural, free enterprise system tends to lead to lower prices because of innovation and economies of scale. Keeping prices up don't necessarily translate into profits. Management of margins do.

But I'm not here to educate about business. Just pointing out even as far back as 1930s Porky Pig cartoons we still had a classical liberal impulse.

T-t-t-that's all folks!


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