It’s a popular theme to ‘protect’ society by ‘self sufficiency’ or by closing doors on trade. Well, reality says the opposite—protectionism leads to unintended consequences: mass shortages.
This has been spelled out by Cargrill’s CEO anent the growing risks of a food crisis from increasing government intervention (by hoarding).
From Bloomberg, (bold emphasis mine) [hat tip: Mises Blog]
Cargill Inc. Chief Executive Officer Greg Page, who runs the largest agricultural company in the U.S., has a good idea whom to blame for the global surge in food prices at the end of 2010: governments.
Page urged 708 delegates and guests at the National Grain and Feed Association convention in San Diego in March to take action, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its September issue. He said government hoarding was the biggest contributor to the rise in prices, which had soared 15 percent from October through January and pushed 44 million people into poverty, according to the World Bank.
“Ill-timed, ill planned and really a beggar-thy-neighbor strategy,” Page, 59, said of moves by Russia and others to ban grain exports as droughts and floods helped send stockpiles to their lowest levels in two generations.
Page warned that further disruptions might ratchet up costs so much that governments would jump in with more regulations -- not only on grain shipments but also on energy, trade and financial markets. Such moves could discourage investing in agriculture and hurt the poor.
“We have to make sure lawmakers share our understanding,” he said, imploring the executives to increase their lobbying to keep government hands off agricultural markets.
Governments should keep their hands off not only in agricultural markets but in ALL markets.
No comments:
Post a Comment