Prepare for Unforeseen Consequences

The picture is sort of a joke. It comes from Half Life 2 episode 2. The picture is important only because of the phrase "Prepare for unforeseen consequences," in the scene it came from.

I read an article in the Salt Lake Tribune about unexpected consequences of NAFTA. It turns out that because North American free trade is being extended through the abolition of agricultural tariffs, Mexican farmers will probably be harmed as U.S. crops will be able to freely flood the Mexican market. The author argues that unless the Mexican government does something to help the situation, the Mexican agricultural industry will be ruined leading to even more illegal immigrants coming to the U.S. and "A stronger agricultural industry could be taking over Mexican farming: marijuana and cocaine production."

This isn't the only U.S. agricultural policy currently affecting Mexico. A few months ago I read another article, this one in the Deseret News, about consequences of our current push for ethanol fuel made from corn. It reads in part:

"There is another problem with relying on a food-based biofuel, such as corn ethanol, as the poor of Mexico can attest. In recent months, soaring corn prices, sparked by demand from ethanol plants, have doubled the price of tortillas, a staple food. Tens of thousands of Mexico City's poor recently protested this 'ethanol tax' in the streets."

Too often politicians and bureaucrats fail to think of the unforeseen consequences of their actions. We definitely need to reconsider some of the policies I've discussed here.

Now by all this I don't mean for us to abandon free trade, just see that it is conducted wisely. I also don't think we should abandon biofuels. In fact I read a recent article that said grass can be used to make ethanol and is a lot more efficient than corn so there are options out there without the same negative consequences. The fact is that if we paid a lot more attention to what our actions might unintentionally cause then this world would be a better place.