Turkeys of the Year!!!

Here's a letter sent on Thanksgiving Day to Daily Observer:

Mr. Editor,

As we feast on our Thanksgiving turkeys, it is befitting to take a moment to recognize the turkeys in our government. Here are the Turkeys of 2009:

Turkey #1. The Minister of Education: This turkey is burnt (inept and incompetent)! How about abolishing the Ministry of Education altogether (so Dr. Kortu can go back on his cassava farm) and using the savings to give each child, through his parents, a specified sum (school vouchers) to be used solely in paying for his primary education; the parents would be free to spend this sum at a school of their own choice (Milton Friedman's idea)???

Turkey #2. The Minister of Transportation: This turkey is illiterate! Despite disastrous history of price controls, going all the way back to the days of the Roman Empire and ancient Babylon, our economically illiterate Minister of Transportation can never manage to resist tampering with prices to pacify the public. Price controls lead to long lines, shortages and quality deterioration. It is the same story, whatever the country, the times or the product or service. To teach him a lesson, how about making the Minister wait in long lines in the hot sun for taxi??

Turkey #3. The Minister of Commerce. This is another illiterate turkey! She likes to take credit for lowering the prices of other people private property (goods and services) but she blames all bad consequences of the government price control policy (lower prices) on "greedy business people"!

Hey Madame Minister, please note that whenever the government uses its police power to force other people to sell their private property (rice or cement) at a certain price, it isn't called competition or free market- it's called Price Fixing (a.k.a Price Controls)!!! And price fixing is illegal !!! Shouldn't you be behind bars?

Turkey #4. The Minister of Planning: This turkey like book business, but hasn't he read the "The Undercover Economist" written by Tim Harford?? According the "The Undercover Economist", "China is lifting a million people a month out of poverty!!" And guess how they are doing it?? No, not by some government PRS program, but by free market capitalism!! (more economic freedom!)

Hey Mr. Planning Minister, if free market capitalism is lifting one million communist Chinese a month out of poverty, why in world can't we do the same thing to lift millions of Liberians out of poverty?

By the way, can the Minister of Planning (Konneh) tell us how many persons (so far) have been lifted out of poverty since the implementation of the PRS???

Turkey #5. The Minister of Labor: With a stroke of his pen, this turkey, named Tiawon, issued Regulation #17, jacking up the Work Permit fees for aliens from USD$450.00 to USD$1,000.

Wow! That's more than 120 percent increase in government revenues! But does the Minister of Labor have the power to raise revenue for the government??!

Turkey #6. Commissioner of Maritine Affairs. Even though the President says her government is all about accountability and transparency, this turkey loves secrecy!
He says his salary is secret even though he's a government employee. He also says the NPA Managing Director salary is a secret too even though the Port receives $300,000 or more in subsizes from the taxpayers.

Turkey #7. The National Legislature. What a bunch of turkeys! With violent crime rate so high, why won't our elected leaders allow law-abiding citizens to possess firearms?? How many more citizens will these animals (criminals) rape, rob and kill before we come to our senses??

In communities where most people are known to have guns in their homes, robberies are rare and voilent crime rates are low. Guns deter as well as defend, yet our government keep us unarmed. How long are we going to put up with such nonsense??

I am so full of disgust over these government turkeys, I'd probably just have salad tomorrow (Thanksgiving Day). Someone please pass the pepto-bismal; it looks this indigestion won’t end until at least November 2011 !!!

Martin Scott
Atlanta, Georgia