aderfp633
Inscrit le: 27 Sep 2011
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Localisation: England
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 Posté le: Jeu Oct 10, 2013 5:59 pm Sujet du message: just making them more expensive for a time |
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{The trouble with tinkering}
You may have read that the Quebec government is looking into the possibility of controlling book prices 鈥?specifically,[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Cheap Toms[/url],[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Toms Shoes Sale[/url], no more than a 10 per cent discount in the first nine months a book is out 鈥?in order to help independent book stores. That鈥檚 鈥渋ndependent鈥?bookstores, not 鈥渋ndependence鈥?bookstores,[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Toms Shoes Outlet[/url], which you might be forgiven for thinking,[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Toms Shoes Outlet[/url], since the government is run by the Parti Qu茅b茅cois and for many PQ militants all of life is aimed at the independence of Quebec,[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Cheap Toms[/url],[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Toms Shoes Sale[/url], though of course they don鈥檛 actually call it that since factual descriptions of what they want make their fellow citizens nervous.You might also think a government that has been heavy-handed in legislating against the public display of religious symbols, except of course Christian ones, which are not so much religious, you understand, as historical, and that has also developed a reputation for a less than liberal approach to immigrants and minorities would want to stay away from regulations regarding books. Book laws don鈥檛 have a good history.True, no one鈥檚 proposing burning books, just making them more expensive for a time: nine months: a kind of gestation period for the independents. And in fairness the province did exempt books from provincial GST when that tax came in the 1990s (a policy that seems enlightened but is actually misguided: when nothing鈥檚 exempt, consumption taxes both cost much less to administer and don鈥檛 alter relative prices). But anyone with half a brain knows that in the 140-character-a-throw frenzies we have these days any policy that contains the words 鈥渞egulation鈥?and 鈥渂ooks鈥?is going to be trouble.I think the policy is nutty, too, and resent the fact that energy will have to be expended explaining why to a legislative committee that鈥檚 going to examine the issue. But what really gets me about the policy is, not that it鈥檚 so bizarre, but that it鈥檚 so banal. We live in an age of social tinkering. Everybody wants to tinker. Tinkering is us. Why should we be surprised if somebody decides to tinker with the book industry? In fact, we鈥檝e had several decades of federal and provincial policies tinkering with the book industry. Ever try to import textbooks into Canada? Didn鈥檛 think so. Only government-designated importers are allowed to.Why this particular policy proposal? Someone has noticed that independent bookstores are in trouble. Possibly some disinterested policy analyst. More likely the independent bookstores themselves. What鈥檚 their problem? Paper books are becoming extinct, which this policy doesn鈥檛 鈥?and can鈥檛 鈥?address. But also they鈥檙e being buffeted by mass retailers who very aggressively discount what paper books do still get sold.An economist, which I am, is bound to say 鈥淭ough. The guys who did illuminated manuscripts fought against Gutenberg, too. They lost. You did a good job for a long time but now we鈥檝e found better ways to get books to people.鈥?(I know an economist who publishes his own mystery novels as e-books on Amazon.com. He sets his price. Amazon takes a cut. Bingo: The books are published. What could be more exciting than that for books, for readers, for authors, for reading?)
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People watching the forthcoming beginning of the German half of the inhabitants of Berlin are no interested in co-optation |
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