19 May 2022
Panama for a little longer
Morning Mind Burst, sans edit
Actions like this, and price controls -- cause famines to grow.
The mechanism is simple: Supply chain elements that are losing money stop supplying. That's just how stuff works.
Any government that is stupid or terrible enough to create conditions for famine during times of abundance will be far too stupid or terrible to address the far more difficult conditions after the emergency begins.
For instance price controls. In every single famine I have studied, governments begin price controls on fuel/food, etc., which accelerate the problem destructively. By destructively, I mean, for instance, 'solutions' cause bankruptcies and plant or infrastructure closers that are not quickly remedied without great expense of time and meager capital. Government 'firemen' show up and start torching the neighbors to prevent the fire from spreading. Cities and factories cannot be unburned and the monkeys just burn, burn, burn. Famine is as destructive to economies as fire. Strategic level food and fuel supply is not a "light switch" that can be toggled.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/18/officers-should-use-discretion-over-stealing-to-eat-says-uk-police-watchdog