John Block Reports from Washington

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by John Deere and the National Corn Growers Association. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

I am on the farm this week hoping to wrap up soy bean planting. It was Donald Trump last week. This week, first let me give you my take on the “bathroom bill brawl.” Why won’t the federal government back off? Let the states, cities, school districts, and local citizens deal with it. The federal government just wants to ruin everything. My solution is to allow the male and female individuals to use the bathroom that matches their gender on their birth certificate, that’s what we have always done. For the transgender individual, just put a porta potty outside for them. I am sure you can understand a young girl not wanting to have someone that looks like a guy in her bathroom ormaybe in her shower after gym class.

Enough on that. Today’s subject is government dominance and ownership versus personal property and a market economy. 

Just look at some nations that have not progressed but need a life preserver to survive. Look at Cuba – I was there 10 years ago. Ninety miles from our shore, but they are poor. Fifty years ago the government stole all the land and took control of everything. Unless they allow a market economy to evolve, don’t expect a quick turn around.

Let’s go south a little further to Venezuela. I was there when I was Secretary of Agriculture. That nation at that time was one of the most prosperous in South America. Then along came Hugo Chavez with his ultimate plan of the 21st Century Socialism, redistribution of wealth. The government took the wealth and shared some of it but wasted most of it. With the collapse in oil prices, thirty percent of the people work for the government. They don’t have the money to keep the electricity on to milk the cows. Farmers can’t get seeds to plant, they have 720 percent inflation. I have a friend that worked for me at the Department of Agriculture. His family came from Zimbabwe in East Africa. Dictator Mugabe stole their family farm. When the farms were in private hands, Zimbabwe was an exporter of agricultural products. Today they are beggars.

I don’t need to say much about North Korea, total government control and a total failure.

The point that I am making is that government control, government ownership, ignoring free markets will guarantee failure. We don’t want to go down that road.

If you would like to review my radio shows going back more than 20 years, just go on-line to www.johnblockreports.com. Have a great weekend.

Until next week, I am John Block from Washington, D.C.