The most amazing thing happened yesterday

[tomdemaine]

I ordered a cheeseburger, fries and a coke at a restaurant and got it. If you think for a few minutes about the steps involved in that I hope you'll see how amazing it is. First the burger. We have a bunch of different elements all on massively different timescales that came together at the exact time I wanted. It takes maybe 3 months to make cheese? Probably 9 to grow wheat, make flour and turn it into bread for the bun and the process or raising slaughtering and preparing a cow for a beef patty must be a 4 or 5 year process. There's also lettuce and tomato and mayonnaise that all had to be farmed and processed on wildly different timescales. Similarly for the potatoes used to make the fries and the corn syrup in the cola. All these things miraculously happened to be in the same place at the same time ready to be cooked as soon as I ordered. Then it had to be cooked by a chef with some training in these matters and brought to me with a smile by an attractive young waitress. Within 15 minutes of ordering I had myself a tasty meal.

And here's the important part. At no point during this process, this incredible, astonishing feat of coordination was anyone doing anything other than voluntarily acting, trading with others for their own selfish benefit. There was no central plan, no oversight committee and no hamburger allocation fund.

You know how much I paid for this? A job that took up to 5 years to come to fruition? $7, plus tip (which was a pretty irrational thing to do seeing as I'm just passing through and will probably never eat there again I should've free ridered). Individuals acting in their own self interest in a broad and free marketplace can make the most amazing occurrences seem incredibly mundane and I think we sometimes forget how amazing the things we take for granted often are.

If humans beings can accomplish feats like this over and over to the point that we stop even thinking about them and take them entirely for granted there is nothing that we can't achieve.

[2/325Falcon]

Restaurant health inspectors? Meat inspectors?

Edit: Agriculture subsidies? Government roads? Etc.

[Nielsio]

Does God count as a central planner?

[slickss]

I like your post. However, you are assuming that $7 is not a lot of money.

[BCPVP]

I, Pencil ftw!

[hmkpoker]

[ QUOTE ]
Restaurant health inspectors? Meat inspectors?

Edit: Agriculture subsidies? Government roads? Etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Regulations? Taxes?

[cardcounter0]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Restaurant health inspectors? Meat inspectors?

Edit: Agriculture subsidies? Government roads? Etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Regulations? Taxes?

[/ QUOTE ]
Price supports? Minimum wage law?

[Richard Tanner]

[ QUOTE ]
Restaurant health inspectors? Meat inspectors?

Edit: Agriculture subsidies? Government roads? Etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think in AC, independent health inspectors would be hired, and you can either take their recommendation or not eat there. A few holes here, but it's basically the same system.

Cody

[lehighguy]

So the government succeeded in making the hamburger more expensive then it had to be?

[cardcounter0]

[ QUOTE ]
So the government succeeded in making the hamburger more expensive then it had to be?

[/ QUOTE ]
No, the government probably helped in getting the whole thing to happen.

Take the wheat for the bun, for example.

A while back farmers would cry "free market!" at the drop of a hat. Of course, when the government moved to drop price supports, stop buying surplus to stockpile, etc. they shut up real fast. Without government regulation, you would see the old drought, flood, wiping out farmers and then farmers boom and bust, too many bumper crops and the supply exceeds demand, etc. The government helps keep a consistent market, instead of feast or famine that you used to see in the old days.

Most wheat is traded in Kansas City. There a regulated exchange oversees the trading, so somebody can't corner the market, create artificial shortages, etc. Without a well regulated exchange, you would probably see the old Boom and Bust, shortage/glut, that you used to see with old commidities way back when.

Today transportation of the wheat is usually done by railroad. These railroads were granted land by the government for their tracks, and benefit from many government regulations to keep them running cheaply. Back in the old days, people pretty much used what was grown locally, there were not nationwide transportation networks to get things to market. You ate what food was available when it was in season.

You might study some history, particularly the Old West, where the farmers today were granted the land from the government when the Kansas Territories where opened up, and how the railroads where able to link both coasts with government help.

You might study some of the old trading scams that were pulled with wheat, cotton, sugar, etc. That government regulations stopped the old boom/bust cycles that were pretty frequent back in the 1800s.

You might visit some third world, or not so third world countries, and see how that "free market" provides a very chaotic labor pool, and the "buyer beware" philosophy of eating in a resturant in the first place.

It is really simple minded to chant "GOVERNMENT IS BAD".
Especially after you have taken advantage of all the infrastructure that the government has put into place (roads, railroads, markets, even a police force so you aren't killed on your way to work, etc.) Have a legal system so transactions can be conducted efficently (so buying a hamburger isn't like a cocaine deal which requires guns on both parties part, etc.)

Yeah, take advantage of all that, kick back, and proclaim "government is bad".