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July 09, 2007
Vivid example of change in demand; George Will reviews Amity Shlaes
From a Reuters story last week: ABUJA, Nigeria - The price of machetes has halved in parts of Nigeria since the end of general elections in April because demand from thugs sponsored by politicians has subsided, the state-owned News Agency of Nigeria reported. NAN surveyed prices in the northeastern state of Gombe and found that a good quality machete was now selling for 400 naira ($3) compared with 800 naira before the elections, which were marred by politically motivated violence in many states. . . . "Before the conduct of the general elections, I was selling a minimum of seven machetes daily but can hardly sell one a day now," said Usman Masi, a trader quoted by NAN. . . . European election monitors estimated that at least 200 people were killed in politically motivated violence during months of campaigning ahead of the April polls. ON Sunday George Will filed a glowing review of Amity Shlaes's new book, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression -- She says Roosevelt's wager was that, by furiously using legislation and regulations to multiply federally favored groups, and by rhetorically pitting those favored by government against the unfavored, he could create a permanent majority coalition. In the process, says Shlaes, Roosevelt refined his definition of the "forgotten man." This man had been thought of as a general personality, compatible with the assumption that Americans were all in it together. "Now, by defining his forgotten man as the specific groups he would help, the president was in effect forgetting the rest -- creating a new forgotten man. The country was splitting into those who were Roosevelt's favorites and everyone else." For Shlaes's column in the June 25 WSJ, click here. Posted by Mike DeBow at 07:25 PM in Economics
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