SILOS DON’T CARE

A few thousand years ago, budding psychiatrist Joseph interpreted a dream of Pharaoh. You remember the Bible story, right? Pharaoh had a dream about seven fat cows and seven lean ones. Joseph found that. . .very interesting. He interpreted it as a premonition of Pharaoh’s that there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.

Pharaoh knew just what to do about it. He put a good amount of the excess grain production from the years of plenty into silos. Later, when the years of famine came, there were resources to feed his people.

Sounds simple, and it is simple. So, why are we, full of sophisticated economists, suffering so much in our years of famine? Well, what do we do in times of plenty? Do we fill up the silos? Of course not. Do we save? Nah. Do we pay down our national debt, so our taxes can pay for what we need instead of interest? Are you kidding?

No, what we do is create dependency on plenty. We stop taxes on the poor, we give subsidies to favored groups, we sign lucrative contracts with government workers and unions.

Then, when famine hits, in the form of a recession, our recourse is to take back. We could take it from those to whom we gave it, but their lifestyles have been built around their increased salaries and benefits. We could take it from the general citizenry in terms of taxes, but the citizenry has built its lifestyle around keeping most of their earnings. People really care when they have to alter their lifestyles, especially when our supposed leaders were thinking only of how to get re-elected. People really care. Silos don’t, but people do!

So, we are stuck. We struggle. Those who received the excesses of plenty, the Democrats in America, don’t want to give it back. Those who got used to keeping most of what they earned, the Republicans, don’t want it taken away. Stuck.

Why are we different from Pharaoh? Well, Pharaoh did not have to deal with an opposing party. He didn’t have to deal with citizens who could vote him out of office, like leaders in democracies do.

While no one I know wants to return to anything like the system of ancient Egypt, what can we do in future times of plenty, i.e. when the economy is going strong? Well, we can pay off our debt instead of paying off our supporters.

And just what might make us do that? Not professional politicians, that’s for sure. Get it?