Der Weg in die Knechtschaft ist auch der schnellste Weg in die Armut - vor diesem teuflischen Zusammenhang hat Hayek immer wieder eindringlich gewarnt. Ralph R. Reiland vom Capitalism Magazine verdeutlicht diese Theorie an einem offensichtlichen Beispiel:
How Mugabe is Destroying The Zimbabwean Economy
“With three-fourths of Zimbabwe’s labor force already jobless prior to Mugabe’s decree, the government’s prescription for bringing down inflation only worsened the nation’s poverty crisis. “Factory layoffs and slowdowns,” reported The Times, “are bringing new poverty to the 15 percent or 20 percent of adult Zimbabweans who still have jobs.”
To keep critics in line, a new law gives Zimbabwe’s security forces the right to observe as many e-mails and tap as many phones as they see fit.
For noncompliance with Mugabe’s edict, business owners are threatened with jail and the nationalization of their companies. “We are at war,” explained one of Mugabe’s vice presidents, Joseph Msika. “We will not allow shelves to be empty.”
In other words, if supplies won’t come forth voluntarily via the market, the government will force the production.
“As many as 4,000 businesspeople have been arrested, fined or jailed,” reported Wines, while “state-run newspapers publish lists of telephone numbers on their front pages daily, exhorting citizens to report merchants whose prices exceed the dictates.”
Aber um nicht so fürchterlich pessimistisch zu enden: die gute Nachricht ist ja, dass dieser Zusammenhang auch umgekehrt gilt. Man muss also nur noch…
