2013-05-12

http://mises.org/daily/2370

How Price Control Leads to Socialism

The government believes that the price of a definite commodity, e.g., milk, is too high. It wants to make it possible for the poor to give their children more milk. Thus it resorts to a price ceiling and fixes the price of milk at a lower rate than that prevailing on the free market. The result is that the marginal producers of milk, those producing at the highest cost, now incur losses. As no individual farmer or businessman can go on producing at a loss, these marginal producers stop producing and selling milk on the market. They will use their cows and their skill for other more profitable purposes. They will, for example, produce butter, cheese or meat. There will be less milk available for the consumers, not more. This, or course, is contrary to the intentions of the government. It wanted to make it easier for some people to buy more milk. But, as an outcome of its interference, the supply available drops. The measure proves abortive from the very point of view of the government and the groups it was eager to favor. It brings about a state of affairs, which — again from the point of view of the government — is even less desirable than the previous state of affairs which it was designed to improve.

Now, the government is faced with an alternative. It can abrogate its decree and refrain from any further endeavors to control the price of milk. But if it insists upon its intention to keep the price of milk below the rate the unhampered market would have determined and wants nonetheless to avoid a drop in the supply of milk, it must try to eliminate the causes that render the marginal producers' business unremunerative. It must add to the first decree concerning only the price of milk a second decree fixing the prices of the factors of production necessary for the production of milk at such a low rate that the marginal producers of milk will no longer suffer losses and will therefore abstain from restricting output. But then the same story repeats itself on a remoter plane. The supply of the factors of production required for the production of milk drops, and again the government is back where it started. If it does not want to admit defeat and to abstain from any meddling with prices, it must push further and fix the prices of those factors of production which are needed for the production of the factors necessary for the production of milk. Thus the government is forced to go further and further, fixing step by step the prices of all consumers' goods and of all factors of production — both human, i.e., labor, and material — and to order every entrepreneur and every worker to continue work at these prices and wages. No branch of industry can be omitted from this all-around fixing of prices and wages and from this obligation to produce those quantities which the government wants to see produced. If some branches were to be left free out of regard for the fact that they produce only goods qualified as non-vital or even as luxuries, capital and labor would tend to flow into them and the result would be a drop in the supply of those goods, the prices of which government has fixed precisely because it considers them as indispensable for the satisfaction of the needs of the masses.

But when this state of all-around control of business is attained, there can no longer be any question of a market economy. No longer do the citizens by their buying and abstention from buying determine what should be produced and how. The power to decide these matters has devolved upon the government. This is no longer capitalism; it is all-around planning by the government, it is socialism.

http://www.writinghelp-central.com/write-paragraph.html

How To Write A Paragraph

When I did my research into what type of "writing help" people are searching for online, I was surprised to find out how many folks are actually looking for information on "how to write a paragraph".

As it turns out there are a lot more people looking for that specific information on how to write a paragraph than one might imagine.

As a professional business writer and an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction books here is my take on "how to write a paragraph".

It so happens that I am currently reading a best selling non-fiction book on a subject that really interests me. However, I still find it to be heavy reading and often have to go back and re-read entire pages. I believe this has a lot to do with the many long run-on paragraphs that often exceed one page.

To me, these unnecessarily long paragraphs are sleep-inducing and actually hamper communication. Unfortunately, many writers and/or editors don't seem to get this point.

In my opinion there is no need to ever have such long paragraphs!

In fact, I could easily go through that book I am reading now with the excessively long paragraphs and break most of the long ones down into three or four shorter paragraphs.

Here are my tips on how to write paragraphs that are readable:

Make readability your number one priority. Keep your paragraphs short by deliberately eliminating long run-on paragraphs. Better readability will improve the experience for the reader and increase the impact of your words.

Limit paragraphs to three to five sentences. Look for logical breaks in thought and flow, and insert paragraph breaks at those points.

Use headers and sub-headers. This technique can be used in most types of non-fiction writing to break up content into major logical chunks; then use paragraphs to break things up further below those headers and sub-headers. The book I am reading now with the long run-on paragraphs could easily have a number of headers and sub-headers in each chapter, with multiple paragraph-breaks below each of those. Instead, it uses paragraph-breaks to delineate only major changes in thought or subject, with no breaks below that, which results in many 15 to 25 sentence paragraphs.

For example, take a look at the first five paragraphs at the top of this article. If I had eliminated all of those paragraph breaks it would have ended up as one long run-on paragraph just like this:

When I did my research into what type of "writing help" people are searching for online, I was surprised to find out how many folks are actually looking for information on "how to write a paragraph". As it turns out there are a lot more people looking for that specific information than one might imagine. As a professional business writer and an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction books here is my take on "how to write a paragraph". It so happens that I am currently reading a best selling non-fiction book on a subject that really interests me. However, I still find it to be heavy reading and often have to go back and re-read entire pages. I believe this has a lot to do with the many long run-on paragraphs that often exceed one page. To me, these unnecessarily long paragraphs are sleep-inducing and actually hamper communication. Unfortunately, many writers and/or editors don't seem to get this point. In my opinion there is no need to ever have such long paragraphs! In fact, I could easily go through that book I am reading now with the excessively long paragraphs and break most of the long ones down into three or four shorter paragraphs.

You be the judge. Which is more readable; the five paragraphs above the bullet list, or the dense blob of words in the above run-on paragraph?

I have no doubt that the vast majority of readers would opt for the shorter paragraphs that I used up above the bullet list.

Bottom Line: Do your readers a big favor and break your text into short paragraphs. This will make your text much more readable and will increase the retention rate and understanding of your readers.

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