The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

508 THE FREEMAN Auguststrong-arm means. And, to administerthe strong-arm medicine, atough guy will have to take over.As Hayek said long ago, the goons,in a world of controls, rise to thetop.Now, Mr. Read is not sayingthat the U.S. is bound to persistin its present foolish course; thepoliticians may come to theirsenses when they discover that inflation(a matter of the moneyand-creditsupply) cannot bestopped by price and wage boardsissuing their ukases. All Mr. Readis uttering is a little "if." Thefuture is not to be glimpsed inany crystal ball for the simplereason that it depends on what isbeing done by "our actions now."Change in these actions naturallychanges the "if."A Vicious Circle of SubsidiesThe other day I listened to aplausible plea for State subsidyto the arts. Taken on its ownterms, the argument seemed tome at least morally irrefutable.We have had inflation, whichmeans that people have beenrobbed of· the purchasing powerthey might have spent on goingto plays, or on buying books orvisiting museums. As a matter ofretributive justice, why shouldn'tthe State return some of the stolenpurchasing power to the art-lovingindividual? I put this question toMr. Read. "The trouble," he said,"is that the money is no longerthere. There's nothing to be returned."Of course, there is money therefor the arts - and for a millionother things - on a short-termbasis, provided we are willing tolet our children pay the bills.Meanwhile, the quarrel betweenhundreds of separate pressuregroups, each intent on retributivejustice, puts an intolerable strainon government, which cannot hopeto conjure up the necessary "just"payments out of a top-heavy taxstructure and more inflation. WhatMr. Read was really saying isthat "pretty soon the resourceswon't be there." This is somethingthat our politicians, along withthe people who prod them, havenot yet faced.The Victims of "Help"Mr. Read, "bonded to conscience,"wonders how we are to reversethe drift that is taking oursociety to "all-out" statism. As afirst order of business he insiststhat those who would stop thedownward plunge must "developthe quality of personal incorruptibility."Politically speaking, the"incorruptible" man should "nevergive approval to a law that 'helps'anyone."This is hard doctrine for themodern age, which·believes in so-