Lingering Fallacies About Government

"The notion that there is something called “the government” whose financial interests can be separated from the interests of the citizens who pay for it and benefit from its services is a fallacy. The notion that there is something called “the economy” that needs to be nurtured and promoted independently of the welfare of individuals and households is a fallacy too." John Kay

Writing his regular column on the Financial Times and which is subsequently released on his website, John Kay questions conventional wisdom about the degree of harm that cigarette smoking causes. As he argues sensibly, the early mortality from cigarette smoking may indeed save public expenditure purely because of the failure to collect pensions due and the related entitlements that are due to older citizens. The piece points out how bureaucrats attribute the word government with a life and interest of its own that is supposedly removed from the public interest as if any government exists for its own sake. The recent discovery that one Chancellor of the exchequer in the UK dissuaded colleagues from promoting public health messages that discouraged smoking in the belief that this would be detrimental to the treasury's interest in raising revenue illustrates that misconception.