Programs Meddle With Free Enterprise

Remember the brick house built by the third little pig? The big, bad wolf huffed and puffed, but he could not blow it down.

At least that’s how the story goes.

Perhaps he was inhaling.

Oh sure, he was a mighty windbag when confronted by the straw and stick homes thrown up by piggies one and two. They were idlers, hogs fat for the taking.

But the third pig was industrious. Admirable. A barnyard Horatio Alger.

But what if this pig had received a below-market-rate loan to finance construction? Purchased the bricks from a factory that bought subsidized materials? Studied bricklaying while on scholarship at a community college?

Is this a self-made pig, or pork dressed up as free enterprise, tailoring courtesy B.B. Wolf? And might the pig be returning the favor at election time?

Metaphors aside, the fact is politicians long have meddled in economics. Virginia might not have prospered without the charter granted by the British government. Railroads pushed west rapidly, encouraged by massive federal land grants. A century later, many still question the wisdom of that incentive.

But we’re still at it. According to the libertarian Cato Institute, 125 separate federal programs subsidize private business to the tune of about $85 billion. Tax breaks add more to the total.

That’s a bunch of money just when Congress and President Clinton are looking for ways to trim $1 trillion from the federal budget in the next decade.

And the states do their share, too.

Utah came up with a $25 million package to land a Micron Technology plant, defeating Post Falls and other communities.

Too bad if you’re among those who coveted the jobs; just as well if you’re among the many others who wanted nothing to do with the congestion the massive Micron plant would have generated.

And consider Alabama, where officials coughed up a stunning $253 million in tax breaks and other goodies to land a MercedesBenz plant. Talk about buyer’s remorse. The governor lost his job.

In a market economy, decisions about capital allocation are best left in the hands of the capitalists. When they’re made by capitolists, the result can be mischief.

, DataTimes MEMO: For opposing view; See headline: Programs create jobs, energize the economy Anti-aid Feds subsidize business to tune of $85 billion, plus tax breaks.

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