© 2013 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. A man brought a computer to the repair counter of a technology store. He said loudly to the technician, “Every time I hit the save button the computer immediately shuts down and I lose my document.” The computer technician looked puzzled for a moment and then said matter-of-factly, “Well, that certainly is a feature of the computer to which we can attach no benefit.”
I laughed out loud but was the only one, in fact, both gave me a dirty look. But I do not care what you say, that is funny. Often we face the same kinds of problems and we wonder why a labor-saving device takes more energy than doing the task originally.
It got me thinking about other problems in our country where we want to slap our heads in frustration. At times it seems we taxpayers are paying money to have a problem which of course is not good. There seems to be much of what the government does that we can attach no benefit. Example: when red light cameras came to communities at times there were more accidents rather than less. The idea in the ideal of red-light cameras was to make the intersections more safe rather than less.
I have a theory about why the red-light cameras can make it more dangerous: drivers are aware of the red-light cameras and their ticketing of citizens. It makes them nervous watching the lights. While they are looking at the lights they are not looking at the traffic in the intersection. Looking at the red-light cameras is a distraction from the traffic in the intersection. When they do this, often they run into the back of other cars, an effect of red light cameras to which we can attach no benefit.
The minimum wage was said to be for the least wealthy of our citizens. Those least wealthy also are often the least able to be productive because they have little or no job experience. So the government moves the minimum wage up and these people who were supposed to be helped were left out of the job market because they do not have job skills equal to the wages that employers must pay. So after all is said and done the people the minimum wage was supposed to help are unemployable, a result of the minimum wage to which we can attach no benefit.
But if we want to see real lack of benefit for government action we need to look no further than our public education system. It connects years ago with the research into the Guayule (pr. Why-you-lee) which I had the pleasure of talking to one researcher back in the 1980s. The plant is temperature sensitive so mostly is no longer in New Mexico.
My friend was telling me that there was a Guayule test where a plot of ground with Guayule on it was the control plot and they planted on another plot some test plants. On the test plants some got more water while others got less. Some got more fertilizer and some less, same with light. After a while the researchers realized the control plot was doing better than the active research plot. Just leave the plants alone and they do best.
Back to education. The more the “experts” make changes in our public school system at times it seems the entire enterprise because worse, not better. That is an effect of all that money, time and effort to which we can attach no benefit.
Example: right now only 55 percent of all school employees are involved in the teaching process. The rest are doing lots of things such a managing the teachers. The more they manage the teachers, the worse the education system becomes. Why? Because the managers are applying political solutions to education problems and it is not working out very well.
The watchword for much government intervention is that you can make things worse. But I do not need to tell you this. You already know this is true, for one thing, April 15 is coming and every time the IRS changes things, is it for the better or worse? We just cannot attach any benefit, eh?
Dr. Michael Swickard is co-host of radio talk show News New Mexico 6 to 9 a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. Email: michael@swickard.com
