Rolling blackouts and mandatory power outages are becoming the norm for Chinese citizens as local governments try to meet energy-saving targets set by Beijing. In a recent AP article, local governments and businesses describe how they are forced to siphon power to meet the authoritarian government’s arbitrary energy goals. As a result, local citizens are forced to live in the dark, freeze in cold weather, and refrain from even using their own toilets. Businesses must temporarily halt production and are unable to provide as many goods and services, slowing down the economy and stifling the quality of life for everyday citizens.
Such intrusive and arbitrary regulations demonstrate that extensive government intervention comes with high social and economic costs. With the current United States and North Carolina governments’ obsession with more government regulation and intervention, could we be headed down the same path? Most nations are currently balancing the need to restore their economies with the international pressure to meet stringent environmental regulations. Nobody likes pollution but we need to let local communities and businesses in NC and across the nation decide how to best handle environmental factors while strengthening their economies. Otherwise, the trickledown effect of extensive government planning leads to the severe and ghastly results found in China.
What do you think? Should big government decide when and how you use local resources?
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