POLITICS OF GRAIN LIBERALIZATION IN 18TH CENTURY EUROPE, SUBSIDY DEBATES AND NIGERIAN POLITICAL PARTIES : After reading about the politics of grain trade in 18th century Europe, I started drawing very interesting comparisons in my head. BIG GOVERNMENTS AND SUBSIDIES - WHAT USE? At the end of the day, it is not big government that is the problem, it is lack of vision and the will to walk the talk. Indeed government can be smart about subsidies - you can use it to protect and grow an industry or use it to boost production. America does this very well with Wheat Farmers. On the other hand, subsidies can be a conduit for corruption. Smart rent seekers and corrupt government officials can take advantage of this. When subsidies are not smartly applied, not much value is added, as it only help to perpetuate a corrupt oligarchy. Thank God, we just discovered that the landing cost of Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) is today lower than the regulated price. Thanks to falling global oil prices. We may not really need this subsidy anymore. IS LIBERALIZATION REALLY AN ENEMY OF THE STATE? On the other hand, Trade Unions and proponents of the Welfare State will often argue against Liberalization because it is assumed that it slowly propels mindless capitalism. But this is not entirely true. The ultimate beneficiary of liberalization are the people. Competition breeds improved service and value delivery. ELSEWHERE, POLITICAL ARGUMENTS ARE ALWAYS TO THE LEFT OR THE RIGHT, BUT IN NIGERIA IT IS MOSTLY VAGUE: 1. LEFTIST POSITIONS: Are you Progressive? Do you believe in the ideals of a welfare state? Are you going to make the rich pay more taxes and create benefits at the bottom of the pyramid such as free Healthcare and Education? Is your focus on job creation through direct interventions? Are you going to focus on affirmative actions which drive equality in society? 2. RIGHTIST POSITIONS: Are you Conservative? Is your government going to be pro-business? Are you going to reduce corporate taxes in order to create more investment opportunities within the economy? Are you going to remain a mere facilitator and allow businesses create jobs through incentives such as tax holidays? Are you going to abolish subsidies so as to allow market forces determine the true value of an essential service or commodity? Are you going to privatize critical centres of the economy and reduce governments involvement in business? Are you going to make people pay for healthcare and education and create health schemes which allows market forces dictate its price and give Education grants and bursaries as cushion for pricing rather than make it entirely free? IS THERE REALLY A MORAL ECONOMY? At the end of the day, there is really no moral economy. What matters is how political positions dictate the present and affect the future. WHAT DO NIGERIAN POLITICAL PARTIES STAND FOR? Our politicians seem to chance in on solutions rather than having an ideological position, a plan and a blueprint for following through. From the ongoing political debates, it is clear that no one is taking a position on the route to the future. No one is talking of how they see the future, no one is advancing a different position on the economy, on healthcare, on infrastructure, on public service Suddenly, everyone is claiming to be a progressive, but the manifest tendencies of both the PDP and the APC is lost in some form of twisted conservatism. We really need to bring our political parties and our politicians to the table and ask them the all important question which borders on our collective future: What do you really stand for? jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1877551?sid=21105532176833&uid=2129&uid=70&uid=4&uid=2
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 09:34:20 +0000