RADIO

Glenn: Vietnam RAT FARMS prove the free market ALWAYS WORKS

In this clip, Glenn takes you to Vietnam in the early 20th century with a story that shows exactly why central planning NEVER works but the free market ALWAYS does. Glenn begins with colonial authorities in Hanoi, a plan that spun WAY out of control, and rodents that began to terrorize the city. This is a story about unintended consequences, and why government today FEEDS off of rat farms…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I want to show you why central planning never works. And why the free market always does. Because the free market doesn't have to anticipate to things. It reacts to things quickly. Let me give you an example. I -- I looked into rat farming over the weekend. Don't ask me how. Don't ask me why. But it started with an article written by Charles Hugh Smith of Two Minds blog. And it is fascinating.

And it takes you back to around the turn of the century. 1900.

And it is the story of how colonial authorities, in Hanoi, came to establish would it kinds of rat farms. And one was intentional.

The first rat farm was unintentional. The French colonial authorities decided to modernize the French quarter of Hanoi, where the Westerners lived by constructing a modern sewer system. The goal was establish a little Paris in the east.

Now, their understanding of sewers was limited to the First Order Effect. First order, second order effect, important to understand.

First order effect, this is where it ended.

Sewers collect and dispose of human waste. That's first order. What are you trying to do?

Build a sewer. Well, what's the effect of that?

Oh, it will take all the flushy parts, and flush them out into the ocean, or wherever. Okay?

That's all they understood. They didn't -- they didn't anticipate the second order effect.

Which was, sewers are paradises for rats.

Now, there was a whole new rat's nest ready to crawl through. All of these pipes. And it was full of food, that rats just loved.

So the second order, is unintended consequences.

First order is, that's what we're going to do. Second is, oh, crap. We just did this. And it was a good thing. Now we've created this problem. Okay?

So second order effects, consequences. Have their own consequences.

And so on, and so on. So the rats started in the sewers. And they began roaming the streets of Hanoi, not exactly the Paris of the East.

So the Bubonic Plague hits Hanoi 2000 -- or, sorry, 1902.

And now, you've got a -- a real health crisis going on. What caused the health crisis?

Oh, the rats, which were caused by the sewers, which was caused by the idea, I really want to have a nice Paris type town. So what did they do?

Well, they hired crews to go down into the sewer and kill the rats. It was not fun. Crappy work, and hazardous.

Now, they killed thousands of rats every single day. But rat fertility is more than a match for the extermination crews.

So then the city said, you know what, everybody, you catch a rat. You catch a rat. We'll give you a bounty for every dead rat.

Well, everybody got involved. And then it was we have a pile of dead rats. Just bring us the tail. Because the pile of rats, waiting to be disposed of, was too expensive. So what did they want to do? Make sure they didn't have a pile of dead rats. Unintended consequence by saying, okay. Just bring us the tail.

Rat farms began to sprout up, because you could cut the tail of a rat off, and hand it in.

And I'm not sure if the rat would degree another tail, but it would at least be there to breed.

STU: That's incredible. I love this scam.

GLENN: Is this not great? Great?

So they discovered that they had -- they had started to have perverse incentives.

Rat farms were built all around Hanoi by private sector entrepreneurs to maximize the harvesting of profitable rat tails.

So in effect, the government created two rat farms. Both unintended, really. The sewers and the private sector rat farm.

In 1998, the Vietnamese authorities, closed restaurants selling cat meat, which was marketed as little tiger meat.

Because they thought of it, if the cat population increased, rats would invade the Rice fields, showcasing the same mentality, that had happened before.

Happened -- happened again. Happened again. Rats. And what do we do with the rats?

Here's the thing: If you look at our society now, everything we are trying to fix. Let's fix education. Let's fix -- let's fix health care.

Let's fix homelessness. We're going to fix our intelligence gathering, our national defense. What do we do?

We pour all kinds of money into this sewer system, people who are now administrators, support staff, consultants, con artists. Some good people in there. But the system wants the money to keep flowing.

So they're not incentivized to actually solve a problem. They actually become people to protect the paradise of more and more funding.

This is why -- this is why the free market works. And why the government must get out of the market. Because once they start protecting their boys, it becomes a rat hole.

It's another rat farm.

You've got to get the government out of the farming business.

Out of the rat problem.

Because they're the biggest source of them.

Oh.

STU: This reminds me of -- of a story I freaking love from a couple of weeks ago.

In New York, they had a gun buyback.

GLENN: Oh, exactly right.

STU: And first order effects. We'll get guns off the streets. We'll make everyone safer. Of course, they don't think of the second order, which means that law-abiding citizens can no longer protect themselves. But I'm not even talking about that one.

One guy saw how stupid it was. And got his 3-D printer out, and started 3-D printing a small device that can convert firearms into fully automated weapons under the rules of the buyback. And this is by Leticia James, by the way, in New York.

And city police, that entitled him to $350 for each printed part, including a 100-dollar premium, since they redeemed ghost guns, lacking serial numbers. So these are just little 3-D printed parts.

He kept doing it and doing it and doing it. And eventually made himself $21,000 for just printing them. He's never going to use as automatic weapons.

GLENN: And he shouldn't go to jail.

STU: No, I don't think he is. He played by the rules. Did exactly what they asked him to do. Made $21,000.

He said, he didn't do it for the money, however. He said he called the idea of buybacks, ridiculously stupid.

Adding that, quote, the people running this event, are horribly uneducated about guns, gun crime, and the laws surrounding the regulation of guns.

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RADIO

Meet the pro-Intifada candidate NYC Democrats just elected

New York City Democrats just elected 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani, a "socialist Muslim", as the Party's candidate for mayor. But Glenn Beck argues that his radical beliefs are actually communist and Islamist.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

VOICE: Z10852. Something weird is going on. The World Trade Center is on fire.

VOICE: Seriously the top of the building. We're trying to get information.

VOICE: Top level of one of the --

VOICE: To unfold from New York City.

VOICE: A plane crashed just --

VOICE: My sister is in that believe. I hope she's okay. I have to come to New York.

VOICE: It's pandemonium.

VOICE: It's raining papers.

VOICE: Wait a minute! Stop just a second. Why are we -- why are we -- I've got breaking news. Breaking news, yesterday. New York City just elected as their mayoral candidate for the left. And the Democrats, a -- a Muslim radical, who is also a communist!

So, you know, it only took you 25 years. It only took you 25 years, New York, to go completely insane.

Somebody who is -- well, I mean, if I might quote Michael malice today. I am old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.

But you've got a -- you've got a communist jihadist apologist now.

Who was -- you know, well, CAIR put $100,000 behind his bid for New York City mayor.

So you have somebody who is endorsed by CAIR. That's really good.

He also was somebody who said, you know, he was -- he was for the shooting of the United Health Care CEO.

Said he was looking forward to driving down magnum Joan avenue. I don't know. Sounds like supporting people in the streets. Maybe it's just me.

Then he also said that he was going to globalize the intifada, which I think that's -- maybe -- maybe that's just me.

I mean, what do I know?

Tim Miller who is a podcaster. Asked him a few weeks ago. Asked him about his pro Palestinian slogan. Globalized the intifada. And he said, for me, ultimately, what I hear in so many, is a desperate desire for equality and equal rights, in standing up for Palistinian human rights. Oh, is that what you hear, Mr. CAIR?

Really? Huh, that's interesting.

Right. So globalize the intifada.

I mean, I mean, sure, that's -- I mean well, let me go on.

Because I don't want to take him out of context.

He then delved into the semantics of the intifada, citing the United States Holocaust memorial museum's use of a word for a translation for uprising, in an Arabic version of an article, a museum published about the Warsaw ghetto.

Oh!

So this is just a comparison, about the -- the armed rebellion against the Nazis!

I don't know if that makes me feel better!

I mean, if we're globalizing that.

We're the Nazis in this scenario.

Because I don't think it's the Palestinians.

I certainly don't think it's anybody who is like, hey.

Global jihad. I don't think it's those guys.

Or the Nazis. Who are the Nazis in that?

And it seems, if that's what you mean, then it's not just a harmless kind of slogan about human rights. It is a call for violence on the streets.

Because I don't know if you know, that's what happened when the Jews had their uprising against the Nazis.

I'm just saying!

But, hey, hey, free Palestine.

Oh, that's not what that means, gang. That is not what that means, but don't worry about it. He's just going to be possibly the new mayor.

And that's great. By the way, the Columbia faculty members signed a letter defending Hamas.

They were also among the donors to his mayoral campaign.

So, you know, you don't have anything to worry about.

And his father, who used to work at Columbia. Do you know, Stu?

Is his Dad -- is he still a professor at Columbia University?

He said that -- this violent terror thing of Islam, is not a part of Islam. Now, I've read the Koran, and much of the hadith.

And I'm pretty sure the violence is a part of that. But no.

No. This is something entirely new.

And his father while at Columbia university, wanted everybody to know, that this is actually -- this is something that came out of America!

America is really responsible for this.

And, you know, it really started with the Reagan administration, you know, when he started -- when he started with his very religious terms, to finish the war against the evil empire.

So, you know, that's where -- that's where 9/11 came from.

Is what -- don't worry about it! Don't worry about it!

Because who am I? I'm clearly just -- am I an anti-Semite today, or am I an Islamophobic? I can't remember which one.

Oh, it's probably both. Anyway, Islamophobia. Let me just explain Islamophobia. I haven't even gotten to the Communist part of it. Which is really, really -- New York, you're in one for hell of a ride. Buckle up.

It will be a fun rollercoaster for you. My gosh, I've never been happier that I've been away are if New York.

Anyway, I just want I to know, there is Islam. And then there is Islamists. Now, an Islamist is somebody who really wants Sharia law.

That's political Islam!

That's not a faith. That's political Islam.

Now, let me make really -- something really clear. Criticizing Islamism, is not Islamophobia. Pointing out the dangers of, oh. I don't know.

Political Islam. The ideology that seeks to use the tools of democracy, ultimately to destroy democracy, is not an attack on Muslims.

No. Uh-uh.

You know why?

Because Muslims are often the first people in line.

The first victims of the ideology.

So let's draw a bright, bright line between Islam as a faith, millions of people can practice that faithfully and peacefully.

It's mostly peaceful, okay?

Then there's the Islamism.

Islamism is something entirely -- that's a political project.

A theocratic political -- oh. Left loves theocracies. They love it.

Of course, you never see a problem with it.

See it when an Islamist is touting it. Anyway, it's not about prayer. It's not about fasting. It's not about spiritual life.

It's all about power. It's about merging of mosque and state. It's about implementing Sharia, not as a personal code of conduct. But as a governing legal system.

And it's -- it's supremacy.

Absolutely. Faith.

Religion.

It's -- there's one thing that's supreme.

It's misogynistic.

Deeply intolerant of all kinds of things.

Descent. Secularism. Other faiths. Even competing interpretations from inside the faith itself.

It will behead them too.

So let's -- let's be honest here for a second.

You know, CAIR should be labeled an international terror organization.

In my opinion. In my opinion.

Oh, does that make me -- that makes me an Islamophobe. I'm sure. I'm sure they will start a campaign against me on being an Islamophobe.

Stand in line, guys. You've been doing it since 2001, okay?

I don't really care. And I don't think the American people. I think that record, all the grooves are worn-out on that one, okay?

This is not a religion we're talking about. When we're talking about Sharia law. And we're talking about globalize the intifada. What does that mean, actually, to globalize it?

Does that mean we now want to do what is happening to Israel? All over the world?

Has the Palestinian plight become our plight you now, as Americans?

That there has to be an intifada here!

Because it's the kind of the same. You know. It's kind of the same over, you know, with what the Palestinians are going through.

Well, it's very much like what the Jews went through with the Nazis.

That's a weird one. That one makes my head hurt. It's very much the same as that. And very much the same as the fight against Donald Trump.

Oh, this is going to be fun. It's fun!

Really fun. You know, the irony here is, the ones that will scream Islamophobia the most, are the ones in the progressive left, the champions of feminism, LGBTQ rights. And secularism.

They're going to -- no. You want -- they're going to stand with the people, who want to kill them first.

See, this is how smart they are!

This is why it's going to work out well, in New York City.

Let me just say. If you have an ounce of common sense, you run a business, you have an ounce of wealth. And I don't mean wealth like, you know, hey, Lovey.

Let's get on the boat for a three-hour tour with a suitcase full of cash. I mean you saved anything, anything, get the hell out of New York City.

I mean, this is about survival. This is about free speech. This is about women's rights.
Religious pluralism. Secular legal systems. Liberal democracy.

But it's also about failed principles of Communism. Okay?

First, you have to call out political Islam for what it is. Okay?

And we have to do it with the clarity that we call out white nationalism.

Got to do it with that. Got to -- you know, the Klan. Really bad people.

Really bad people.

Anybody who is shouting for globalized intifada?

Pretty bad. Pretty bad people.

Okay?

Now, let's get to communism.

Because that's another cool, cool angle of the new Democratic candidate for -- for mayor of New York City.

That I just -- I think is cuddly and cute. Sure, it led to 100 million deaths. But this time, New York is going to be radically different. Oh, did I use the word radical?

I didn't mean to use that. What's radical about this guy?

Nothing. He's just like you!

Well, not exactly.

But let's talk about communism, next!

Now, the new mayoral candidate that's running there in New York City. That so many young people rushed to defend and vote for. He's promising free buses.

That's going to work out.

Where are you going to get the money for free buses.

It's free!

City-run grocery stores.

Oh, rent freezes. And finally somebody has done it. A 30-dollar minimum wage.

So under the banner of equity. And, you know, we will tax the wealthy. And the corporations. You know, we're going to squeeze another $10 billion out of them.

Really?

Because they're going to call a U-Haul.

You know, they will call something like U-Haul. There will be a lot of -- there will be a lot of movers that are like, how do I get the truck back from Texas or Florida back up to New York? Nobody is moving up there.

But he's going to do it.

Now, his vision isn't really new. You know, just -- just tax people, so we could have city-run grocery stores. You know, I remember -- I'm old enough to remember those city-run grocery stores in Moscow.

They were great.

The shelves were empty.

But that's just Moscow.

It worked out completely different in Venezuela.

Where, oh, no.

It didn't. That's right. The grocery store.

They were eating the zoo animals.

But it will be different in New York.

Because they have rent controls too.

And that will just choke the housing supply, but don't worry. As a young family.

You know, you voted for it.

You know better.

It will work this time.

So, you know, I like building ideas, I just don't like usually building on the graves of 100 million people.

But, you know, why not? Why not?

You know, use this dogma.

And this time, it will be different. It's not like it was in China. Where the great leap forward, was a gross -- a gross parody of progress. Venezuela, which was oil rich. One of the richest nations in the hemisphere now sees 90 percent of its population in poverty!

Yeah. Darn it. You know what they did?

They decided to take state control of things.

You know, like grocery stores. And it worked out well. How is that free busing working out in Venezuela?

I just want to -- I just want to know.

Anyway, then you've got the globalize the intifada. Which is going to drop a little violence in, and anti-Semitism in with your communism.

Which is weird!

Because violence and anti-Semitism, always happen. When it -- when it comes to -- when it comes to communism.

This is weird!

I've got to play something for you. Because this has talked about on me earlier this morning.

Oh, wow.

Wait a minute. This is -- this is the whole coalition coming together here.

So this is going to be good. New York, this is going to be great.

It's going to be great for you.

No. He's going to uplift you. Then the social fabric of New York City is just going to be -- just one.

It's going to be fantastic. Don't worry about your 120 billion dollars in debt. Or your 10 billion-dollar deficit that you have right now.

You are going to charge the rich more taxes, and they will stay right there.

They will be like, you know what, that 46 percent in taxes that I'm paying, this is just not enough. It's just not enough.

I need to pay 60 or 70 percent to be able to pay my fair share. So that's good. That's good. That's good.

You know, they're not risking 100 million people. It's just 8 million people.

This time, it's just 8 million people.

But, hey. For those of you in upstate New York. That aren't going to be part of this experiment.

Don't worry, you get to pay for it. Because they'll kick it up to the state. The state will have to subsidize everything. And don't you love it?

Really, don't you want to subsidize the really crazy ideas of New York City?

I mean, why don't you have a -- why don't you have a democratic socialist. A/k/a communist mayor.

Why haven't you done that? Are you not progressive enough? Are you not looking into the future?

Are you stuck in the past?

I don't know. I don't know. The graveyard is pretty big. I have a hard time getting past that one. You know, yeah, so I'm stuck in the past. Because I can't seem to pass that graveyard, and get to be down the path with you. But it's going to be a paradise.

Forget arithmetic. You know, or human nature. This time, it's going to work. It's going to work. So all right!

Wish I lived in this morning.

No wait. Nope. I don't. Nope, I don't.

And Ted Cruz, stop it. Stop writing, hey, come to Texas. No. No. Don't come to Texas. Don't come to Florida. Go to California. It's beautiful this time of year. Go there. Go there.