The following is a letter I wrote to several newspaper editors a few months ago, before government bailouts became ubiquitous. It was eventually published in four papers, including LA Times and NY Daily News.

At the time, I was reading Henry Hazlitt’s excellent work, Economics in One Lesson (1946), which aided me in understanding the hidden effects on one part of the economy of policies benefiting another. My purpose in writing the letter was to show the reader several clear examples of these hidden consequences, making them easier to recognize in the future.

President-elect Barack Obama’s massive plan for public works spending is a sign of political pragmatism: helping those who complain the loudest now, without regard for anyone else. Those other people who will be harmed by increased government spending — employers who could have had more employees (now working for the government), producing goods that could have existed (supplanted by unnecessary bridges to nowhere), bought with additional money that could have been in the pockets of consumers (now taxed to pay for these jobs) — will be the ones complaining tomorrow.

For anyone who hasn’t read Economics in One Lesson - pick up a copy or read it online. The Ludwig von Mises Institute also provides several interviews with economists on the book and its topics.

[Credit to NY Daily News for the squeaky wheel analogy]