The Free Society: Punishing the poor, the moderate and the sensible
Thursday, November 29, 2012
The Free Society: Punishing the poor, the moderate and the sensible.
Over at the Free Society blog, economist Eamonn Butler states what used to be the bleeding obvious before welfarism rotted the national brain. As to his immediate point, he is quite right that the only people whose behaviour will be affected by minimum prices are those whose behaviour is not a problem. Drunks will prioritise alcohol purchases over more important ones, just as drug addicts do. And we all know what happens when you price their preferred purchase at a level that leaves them without other choices; crime.
What struck me most strongly was his headline. Isn't "Punishing the poor, the moderate and the sensible" the true, if undeclared, manifesto of all the UK's mainstream, statist parties?
Yes Tom, it very much is.
Posted by: james higham | Wednesday, December 05, 2012 at 11:16 AM
Ironically, it seems that the aim of many drug and alcohol policies, in many parts of the world, is to punish the moderate and sensible. Here in Australia there have been periodic proposals for legal heroin and safe injecting rooms - but only for addicts! It is always stressed that we must keep heroin away from those who want it just for recreational purposes. In other words, if you use it occasionally and try to avoid addiction you have to get it illegally but once you become an addict you get it with the government's blessing!
Posted by: Mirabila | Thursday, November 29, 2012 at 02:17 PM