Whenever a discussion about the electric bill comes up, there’s always mention of the ‘government subsidy’. The conversation goes something like this:
Other: The government subsidizes electricity here to help people with their electric bills
Me: Is the electric company private? I didn’t think it was.Other: No, the government provides it.
Me: But you said the government subsidizes the cost of electricity?
Other: Yea, they do that to help people.
Me: That’s an unusual use of the word subsidy. A subsidy is money provided by the government to a private company to lower the cost of a given product. What you’re describing is a discount.
Other: Ok, well the government discounts the cost to help people.
Me: Does everyone receive the same discount?
Other: no. poorer people receive the highest reduction in the cost of their electricity.
Me: You said the government was the one helping the poor people. It sounds like to me that the people with money are really the ones doing that by paying an inflated price of electricity.
Other: It’s not inflated, everyone receives a reduction in the price.
Me: But the government arbitrarily set the initial price. If the initial price is high enough, they could give a 99% discount and the price could still be extremely high. It seems to me like you see the government as benevolent because they offer ‘discounts’ on ridiculously priced electricity. This is a poor country, yet the government control of electricity has resulted in your paying more for it than it costs in the US.
Other: I see what you’re saying and it makes sense. I used to think the government was a good thing that helped people and in that sense I was a statist and a fascist. But now I realize that was incredibly naive and I should not believe that way any longer.
That conversation is not unlike numerous conversations I’ve had here with people of different backgrounds. That last line is the obvious exception. It seems strange that no one really seems to question the propaganda they’ve been fed. Yun and I were discussing this last night and we both thought this mindset was rather cultic.