“Free-market capitalism is a network of free and voluntary exchanges in which producers work, produce, and exchange their products for the products of others through prices voluntarily arrived at.”
-- Murray N. Rothbard
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Government, back off.
If it is better for business, by extension it is better for society as a whole.
Under the principle of laissez-faire, a French economic theory, business will be better off if there is less government involvement in free market capitalism.
Politicians in Negros Occidental, Philippines, composed mostly of sugar planters, are up in arms against Coca Cola, a beverage behemoth that manufactures Coke.
No less than Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. has ordered the banning of Coca Cola products during the "Panaad Festival" on April 22, 30, 2017.
Taking cue from the governor's bold move, Hinigaran Mayor Nadie Arceo followed suit by issuing an executive order banning Coca Cola products during the “Hinugyaw Festival" on April 20-30, 2017.
Unless Coca Cola will use local sugar instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as sweetener in its products, the ban will stay, it was reported.
MESSAGE
Their message was loud and clear: they wanted to bring Coca Cola down on its knees.
They first signified their strong intention to lock horns with the softdrink company on March 20, 2017 when sugar planters led approximately 6,000 protesters in a rally in front of the offices of Coca-Cola Philippines in the province to denounce the company's use of HFCS, which they said is killing the sugar industry.
The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has issued Sugar Order No. 3 which places a cap on the entry of imported HFCS into the country and imposes stiff tariff and duties on the commodity.
Sugar Order No. 3, however, was countermanded by Department of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, who quipped: "I did not ask for the scrapping of Sugar Order No. 3 but simply recommended that it be held in abeyance pending the resolution of the issues raised by Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola which are legitimate businesses operating in the Philippines for so long now."
He added: "I believe that if things could be worked out, the sugar industry could get a bigger share of the sugar requirements of both Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola, thus getting a better deal."
PRICE
Coca-Cola and Pepsi have heavily relied on the use of HFCS when the prices of local sugar doubled compared to that of sugar coming from other countries for the past five years.
The underlying beliefs that make up the fundamentals of of laissez-faire economics include first and foremost that the natural world is a self-regulating system, and that natural regulation is the best type of regulation.
Laissez-faire economists argue that because of this there is no need for the complicating involvement of government.
Government involvement, according to this economic theory, would include any type of regulation, minimum wage, taxation, or oversight.
Laissez-faire economists see taxation on companies as a penalty for production.
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