{"id":36545,"date":"2016-09-09T11:51:46","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T17:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=36545"},"modified":"2016-09-09T11:51:46","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T17:51:46","slug":"of-bread-bribes-and-fungus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html","title":{"rendered":"“Of bread, bribes and fungus”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Egypt<\/a>
A NASA satellite photo of Egypt (roughly from the west southwest) and its environs
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

First of all, I want to say something about the photograph above, which I really like:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Running across the photo are, to the right of center, the Red Sea, with its two antenna-like arms extending toward the left \u2014 the upper one being the Gulf of Aqaba (or, if you\u2019re an Israeli, the Gulf of Eilat), and the lower one being the Gulf of Suez. \u00a0They enclose the Sinai Peninsula, above which you can see the relatively green land of Israel along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. \u00a0(If you look carefully along the line of the Gulf of Aqaba\/Eilat and go just a bit further, you\u2019ll find the very tiny \u2014 and rapidly shrinking \u2013Dead Sea.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Running more or less parallel to the Red Sea, you\u2019ll find the green \u201csnake\u201d of the Nile River Valley, culminating in the Nile Delta where the river flows into the Mediterranean at the left. \u00a0(There\u2019s a little green place not far from the Delta that\u2019s off just a slight bit by itself. \u00a0That\u2019s the Fayyum Oasis.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But you should also notice that, apart from the Nile River Valley, the Fayyum, and the Delta, Egypt is overwhelmingly brown. \u00a0That\u2019s the Sahara Desert. \u00a0Sahara<\/em> is the plural form of the Arabic word sahra\u2019<\/em>, which means \u201cdesert.\u201d \u00a0It makes the Mojave Desert in southern California and the desert around Las Vegas look like a tropical rain forest by comparison.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And now, with that in place, I would like to present yet another (to me) redundant illustration of how government incompetence can destroy an economy and hurt a people:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.economist.com\/news\/middle-east-and-africa\/21706275-stupid-policy-incompetent-government-bread-bribes-and-fungus<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, while I\u2019m on that theme, let me share a story.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, though, the set-up:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A few days ago, I posted an entry here entitled \u201cThree comments from Milton Friedman.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 One of those three comments from the late, great Nobel laureate in economics and advocate of free markets was this witty little item:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five\u00a0years there\u2019d be a shortage of sand.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of my readers took strong and, I thought, somewhat indignant exception to that joke.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve personally experienced the truth of Professor Friedman\u2019s point.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Right after we were married, my wife and lived in a suburb of Cairo, Egypt, for several years. \u00a0Our apartment for almost that entire time was located directly across the street from the campus of the international school there, and, during one period of several months, a new building was under construction only a few score yards away from where we lived.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the summer, Egypt can be rather warm, so we typically slept with our windows open in order to snare a bit of breeze. \u00a0But, for a while, we were continually awakened by the sound of dump trucks outside our window, right in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Exasperated, I finally approached the school\u2019s headmaster, whom I knew \u2014 my wife was teaching for him \u2014 and asked him why in the world they couldn\u2019t arrange for the delivery of whatever it was they were receiving for, say, some time during normal daylight working hours.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d responded. \u00a0\u201cYou don\u2019t understand. \u00a0Those dump trucks are dropping off construction sand, which is a government monopoly. \u00a0There\u2019s a queue to get it that\u2019s several years long, so we\u2019ve paid bribes to the relevant officials and those are black market deliveries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I immediately recognized this as a parade example of government\u2019s ability to wreak economic havoc.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Creating a sand shortage in Egypt? \u00a0Surely that has to rank as some sort of miracle.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 First of all, I want to say something about the photograph above, which I really like: \u00a0 Running across the photo are, to the right of center, the Red Sea, with its two antenna-like arms extending toward the left \u2014 the upper one being the Gulf of Aqaba (or, if you\u2019re an Israeli, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"Of bread, bribes and fungus"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    First of all, I want to say something about the photograph above, which I really like:   Running across the photo are, to the right of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Of bread, bribes and fungus"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    First of all, I want to say something about the photograph above, which I really like:   Running across the photo are, to the right of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-09T17:51:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2016\/09\/800px-The_Nile_and_Egypt_by_day.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html\",\"name\":\"\\\"Of bread, bribes and fungus\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-09T17:51:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-09T17:51:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    First of all, I want to say something about the photograph above, which I really like:   Running across the photo are, to the right of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Of bread, bribes and fungus”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Of bread, bribes and fungus\"","description":"    First of all, I want to say something about the photograph above, which I really like:   Running across the photo are, to the right of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Of bread, bribes and fungus\"","og_description":"    First of all, I want to say something about the photograph above, which I really like:   Running across the photo are, to the right of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2016-09-09T17:51:46+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2016\/09\/800px-The_Nile_and_Egypt_by_day.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html","name":"\"Of bread, bribes and fungus\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-09-09T17:51:46+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-09T17:51:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    First of all, I want to say something about the photograph above, which I really like:   Running across the photo are, to the right of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/of-bread-bribes-and-fungus.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Of bread, bribes and fungus”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}