30 Years Ago in Reason

March 1977

From the March 2007 issue

“The whole idea of ‘guiding’ private industry by announcing beforehand what quantities of different goods firms ought to produce over a long period of the future is a muddle from beginning to end.”
—F.A. Hayek, “‘Planning’ Our Way to Serfdom”

“A district court judge in Boston declared unconstitutional the Massachusetts law banning the use of cocaine. Judge Elwood McKinney stated that the law violates the 5th and 14th Amendments, in dismissing a case against a Roxbury man. The judge pointed out in passing that cocaine is far less dangerous than cigarettes or alcohol.”
—“Easing Drug Laws”

“OPEC never would have gotten off the ground without the diligent efforts of the Federal Power Commission.…[It] has controlled the wellhead price of natural gas sold to interstate pipelines since 1954, and domestic crude oil has been under some sort of price controls since even before 1971. The inevitable result was that demand outran supply at the controlled prices, leaving a gap that could only be filled by larger and larger imports.”
—Alan Reynolds, “Energy Crisis: Made in Washington”