Examples of using the government for personal gain in America
Bastiat’s discussion on the balance between government and personal responsibility is certainly an important one in today's society. I think that we see many times that people advocate for using the government for personal gain at the expense of others, which aligns well with how he warns against the temptation to use the government for personal gain. In America, this trend could be seen in something like advocating for higher taxes on the wealthy to increase government payouts. Bastiat critiques ideas similar to this as coming from self-interest, despite how often these proponents claim that they are altruistic. When they advocate for these policies, they are essentially seeking to benefit themselves while disregarding the fundamental principles of liberty and property rights. This exploitation of government undermines the foundations of a free society where people have what they alone have earned. While modern proponents of wealth distribution through only taxing the wealthy say this is a means to address economic disparities, it often just seems to serve their own entitlements through state benefits, and lowering their own tax burden. Bastiat’s writings to the French people echo the same for us: that we should be wary of the inclination to exploit others by hiding behind the shield of the government. Instead, we can safeguard the values of our society by understanding that the role of government only exists to protect personal and individual liberties instead of serving to make everything fair all the time. If all we are concerned with is making everyone equal, the government will not be a helpful means. He mentions how the government must take some cut for itself, so if we increasingly turn to the government to solve problems, all it does is take money to support itself.
Plunder in China
Reading Bastiat's "The Law” immediately made me think about my time in China. I think it is the best experience I have had to observe legal plunder. One of the most blatant ways I saw this play out was in the phenomenon of selective enforcement of regulations. In China, it was common to hear our business professors talk about State-Owned Enterprises, and how these could be favorable investment opportunities because they could avoid regulations. There were many particular examples of how a large company that was well connected with many government officials could get away with large-scale fraud. One of the most common examples was Evergrande Holdings. They were a real estate corporation that had huge amounts of accounting fraud and misdirection. Although not the main driver, their deep government ties allowed them to help hide this fraud, and avoid scrutiny for an extended time. However, it was common practice for the government to routinely enforce random and spastic regulations on small developers or people that were taking their State-Owned Enterprises market share. This experience illuminated for me the reality of legal plunder in many places, and particularly in China. While I certainly agree that true absence of plunder is not possible, it is more pronounced in some places in others. I believe that we should always strive to minimize government power outside of its intended context. Otherwise, we can see many situations similar to China, where both individual and collective plunder take place.
Do Trade Restrictions Ever Have a Place?
In the final part of this week's readings, I greatly enjoyed the satirical example of blocking out the sun. It certainly helped me view tariffs and trade restrictions in a new way. It also made me reflect on what kind of situations could genuinely benefit from trade protections, or when they might be useful even in a free market. He does a great job emphasizing how even though it seems like there will be more benefits for the common people, it ultimately hurts more than helps. I liked how he started out arguing for the opposing side to explain its absurdity. Although on face value it does seem to make some sense. At a glance, it would stand to reason that a cheap source of light would harm industries such as mining, candle making, and many others. He even does a good job examining the trickle-down effects on the rest of society. However, I enjoyed how he switches approaches and reveals the absurdity of blocking out the sun. I would, however, like to learn more about contexts where trade protections could be a good thing. For example, if there is a country that is okay with a lower quality of life, worker conditions, or product quality, then there may be no way for the free market to reconcile. Although, yes, these resources could be reallocated, what if this hypothetical country was better at everything? Then you would have no industry. So I think that although they are generally a bad practice, there may be situations that some trade protections could be useful to combat different trade environments.
Conclusion
Overall, I enjoyed the readings this weak by Bastiat. I thought he did a great job of taking both a humorous and serious side to discussing the important issues, as well as outline warnings for the French society, i hope that we can learn from his advice, as well as the shortcomings of other countries to better out legal system.