The Primacy of Production

The values that human life requires are not simply laying around for us to pick up. They must be produced. Food must be grown, harvested, processed, and shipped to our grocer. Shelter must be built, and that requires countless industries and tradesmen. We can’t survive without consuming values, and we can’t consume values that haven’t been produced. If we are to survive, we must produce values.

The overwhelming reaction to the coronavirus has been to shut down the production of values. But when the production of values ceases, that means that our survival depends on consuming the production that we have saved.

We save and invest during our productive years so that we can consume in our retirement without being productive. There is nothing wrong with that. But when one is forced to consume without producing long before he is prepared to do so, he is forced to use his savings for purposes he didn’t envision or prepare for.

The steep decline in the stock market means much more than a loss in people’s retirement programs. It means that investors are pessimistic about the nation’s future production. And that means that investors don’t think that American companies will create as many values in the future as they have in the past.

When the production of values decreases, prices increase. When fewer values are created, those that are created have a higher value. When there are only ten loaves of bread on the shelf, consumers will pay more to get one of them.

Shutting down the economy in response to the coronavirus was predicated on a shortage of health care facilities. Government and health care officials did not want hospitals and other health care facilities to be overwhelmed. And so, they have sought to slow the spread of the virus by shutting down the production of other values–restaurants, gyms, and movie theaters.

The proper response would be to increase the production of the needed values–health care products and facilities. And that means reducing or eliminating all of the obstacles to producing those values.

The primary obstacle to increasing the production of health care products and facilities is the government. Virtually every health care product requires government approval before it can be offered to the public. And the approval process can take years, sometimes decades.

To its credit, the government has loosened some controls and restrictions, and the approval process has been shortened. But if someone’s life is at stake, why does he require the approval of some faceless bureaucrat in Washington to try a treatment or medication? Why can’t he do what he thinks is best for his life? If he is going to die next week without treatment, it will do him little good when bureaucrats approve a medication eight months from now.

Absent the deathly controls imposed by government officials, we would see the production of needed medical products soar. Businesses could, and would, quickly adopt to new market demands.

But when businesses face the potential wrath of the Federal Death Administration (FDA) because they produced an unauthorized value, why should they risk the future of their business? Many won’t take that risk, and many Americans will die because the primacy of production is being ignored.