Voluntary Parameters; L.E. Read

PARAMETERS LEONARDE. READ My OBJECT here is to examine and comment upon a statement made by the Secretary of the Treasury: "We are at the end of an era in in our economic policy. It will be the disposition of the American people to have as few constraints as possible after the 90-day freeze period, and if we can get voluntary compliance now we can avoid stringent controls later. But it would be unwise to think we can go back to where we were before. American business and labor may have to get used to the idea of living within certain parameters."! First, what is a parameter with in which we may hav~ to live? The simplest definition to be found in the dictionary: 1 The New York Times, August 29, 1971, p. 1. ... a quantity or constant whose value varies with the circum stances of its application, as the radius line of a group of con centric circles, which varies with the circle under considera tion.

There are only a few in the whole nation who even know what parameters are, let alone how to live within them. Why the use of such a strange word? I suspect it is used for precisely the same rea son that the Chairmanof the Fed eral Reserve Board, some months earlier, borrowed and broadcast a British term, "incomes policy": to lessen the shock effect. The same applies to the more recent refer ences to a "Stabilization Board." To be open and above board about it, that is, to bluntly an643 644 THE FREEMAN November nounce that we are in for wage and price controls and then ration ing and that these mean an end to free market, private ownership practices, would not set well with a substantial number of citizens. So, what is the political approach? To ease into the statism being pre pared for us by employing terms so vague that hardly anyone knows what the intentions are. "Parameters" and "incomes pol icy" are perfect examples of this beating around the bush.

Contradictory Terms What are we to make of "volun tary compliance"? This is an ab solute contradiction in terms. Put it this way: If you will not volun tarily jump out of the window, I shall take sterner measures to . accomplish the same effect. Vol untary means something given or done by one's own free choice, the exercise of free will. Compliance means just the opposite: acquies cence or giving in. In the days to come, this means that you yourself will either freeze wages and prices - regardless of supply and demand and what you would freely choose to do in the circumstances - or you will be compelled to do so. Respond to the threat of force, or down comes the force upon you! Voluntary, instead of meaning an exercise of one's own free will, turned around to mean that you are to behave according to somebody else's arbi trary will! "Weare at the end of an era in our economic policy." Most gov ernment officials believe we are, as do many businessmen, some col umnists and so-called economists, and millions of others. Perhaps we are! But this verdict should not be glossed over and accepted light ly. At least, let us be aware of its meaning.

First, note that the antecedent of the rationing to come is the wage and price controls presently imposed. The antecedent of these controls is inflation brought on by excessive governmental expendi tures and money issue - and these, in turn, caused by millions of mis guided people looking to govern ment for security, welfare, and prosperity. Second, note that current official pronouncements make no mention of the above sequence of causes or the need for removing them. This merely means that the wel fare state and its concomitant, the planned economy, are accepted and assumed as a fait accompli,· the new order is here - the total state! Buy this, and we are, indeed, at the end of an era. Russia, China, Cuba, and others have beat us to it, of course, in this century. But the history of price-fixing extends back at least 46 centuries in 1971 VOLUNTARY PARAMETERS 645 Egypt, China, Athens, Rome, Brit ain, India, the·' colonial experience in America, to mention a few always with the same sad report: the end of an era. 2 "It would be unwise to think we can go back to where we were be fore." Was it unwise for England, following the Napoleonic Wars, to abandon mercantilism by repeal ing three-fourths of some 18,000 laws restricting production, ex change, and pricing? There fol lowed the greatest outburst of creative energy and mass well being ever known up to that time.

On the contrary, the restrictive laws under which England is again falling would seem to be what is most unwise. Sack to freedom True, the ideal free economy has never existed anywhere. The nearest approximation has been in the U.S.A. Wisdom suggests that we turn back in that direc2 See "Food Control During Forty-Six Centuries" by Mary G. Lacy. Copy on request. Ever the Same tion, doing everything within our power to head off any move to the contrary. Economics, the study of hpw to mitigate the effects of scarcity, concerns the search for answers to what should be produced and in what amounts and whose satis factions are to be served. The free market, featuring open competi tion and free entry, has the con sumer as king. Each decides what he wants, in what quantities, and at what prices, where he shall work, how many hours, and at what wage. With free, unrestrict ed pricing as the guidelines, the free market is .always working to ward a balance of supply and de mand. The free market works automatically and "shortages" and "surpluses" are not in its lexicon.

Abandon the free market, and not the consumer but the politi cian becomes king. In the "new era," that king, rather than you and I, decides what shall be pro duced, what we shall have, in what quantities, and at what price. Can that be wise? ~ IDEAS ON $ LIBERTY IT IS EVER the same. When a government inflates the money or some other cause pushes prices upward, attempts are made to con ceal the symptoms, rather than to attack inflation at its source or otherwise get at the root-cause. F. A.· H A R PER. Stand-by Controls ECONOMICSandETHICS SEARCH FOR A MORAL ORDER EDWARD P. COLESON THE WORLD was inexpressibly shocked a quarter century ago, when, at the close of one of the most ghastly wars in history, the evidences of Nazi brutality became common knowledge. Without try ing to excuse ourselves, the Bomb which we loosed on mankind could still be justified more easily than the mass liquidation of six million Jewish civilians. The Nuremberg Trials and subsequent soul search ings have never quite answered the question of why they did it or why many other things with which they had no connection have also happened in this civilized world.