Famine, food shortages, and economic freedom

Hand to mouth

"THE rising cost of food is being felt around the world, by the poor especially and, in turn, by politicians. Greater demand from China and India as more people switch to rich diets is lifting prices, which had been low for some 30 years. Last week the prime minister of Haiti resigned in the face of a mob angry at the cost of food, while the Philippines made hoarding rice a crime punishable by life imprisonment. The price of wheat rose 77% in 2007. Since January the price of rice has jumped by 141%. But growing more food takes time, and as the land available for production has decreased, governments and farmers must look to improve crop yields."

That kind of fairly typical reaction is exactly why Amartya Sen argues, I think wisely, that though governments can be helpful in crises to provide emergency relief and in providing basic needs, freer markets, not less free, are the best way to address hunger and famine.

Governments can and probably should help in emergencies, when no other actor is helping or can provide enough help quickly enough.

But repression, limiting freedom, in the face of crises is the $64 million fuck-up of humanity throughout it's long history.

We've just somehow distorted that long established fact of history into some kind of rationalization for power and a solution that has never really been a solution.

Why? Because that is the fairly typical reaction for people to have when they get scared. To get aggressive. To use force. To strike out. At something. Someone. Somewhere. Someone has got to pay.

It's fruitless. And counterproductive. But we fuck it up over and over and over again and again and again. Each time we have a new name for it. Each time its the same old fuck up.

People and societies that take the principle of freedom seriously, even in the face of emergencies - which happen fairly frequently, you may notice, and will happen frequently enough for the length of humanity's stay here on earth - tend to be stronger, safer, more successful and deal with such crises less.

If the dire situation in places like Zimbabwe do not convince us of this fact, I do not know what will.

What I know is that free trade is not a slogan, an accident, or a conspiracy.

Political and economic freedom are the foundations of a strong, decent and prosperous society.

If we only have the courage to take them as seriously as they deserve.