Kids bicycles are a good metaphor for government interference in the marketplace
Bookworm on Sep 03 2009 at 1:25 pm | Filed under: Uncategorized
I was thinking of government care when I bought my son a new, much needed bike. My son is just a boy. He bikes in the neighborhood. A three speed bike would be more than adequate. But they don’t sell three speed bikes anymore. The only bikes out there are 21 speed bikes, even for kids. They break easily, because they have all sorts of movable parts. They are grossly over-engineered for their purpose. And they cost a fortune. These bikes are a very good metaphor for what happens when government dictates the market. It inevitably over-engineers, making demands that far exceed need.
Related posts:
- A microcosm of everything that’s wrong with too much government
- The government versus the market
- Repeat after me: “I must follow rules of the road on my bike”
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10 Responses to “Kids bicycles are a good metaphor for government interference in the marketplace”
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I agree with you about the metaphor, but you can still buy a Schwinn 3-speed bike.
Online, yes, but not in Marin.
Marin is Marin ; )
Well…maybe. Not knowing exactly where you are, I found this:
http://www.schwinnbike.com/usa/eng/dealerlocator
And look at this:
http://www.2wheelbikes.com/bicycle-beach-cruisers.html?gclid=CKGtxIax1pwCFRBbagodg26pIQ
Also this one, although I don’t remember how old your son is – it could be too small..
http://www.target.com/gp/search/183-3872388-6056011?ie=UTF8&search-alias=tgt-index&viewID=drill-down&field-keywords=schwin_bicycles
Outsource jobs! Evil Corporations are responsible!
In reality, evil government corruption and incompetence are responsible.
Darn. Too many links on that last comment – could you fish it out for me, Book? 2:48 PM…
Good metaphor, but what’s the cause in this particular case? Why isn’t there a market for 3 speed bikes? Lack of demand? Some odd industry factor? Or is it a case of govt intervention/regulation?
Didn’t read the followup posts carefully enough. If they’re not available in Marin only (as opposed to online), then it’s likely a case of targeted demographics (higher markups–why sell Kias when you can sell BMWs) or local ordinances.
gpc31 has it right — I don’t think this situation has anything to do with government…..
Not that BW isn’t correct — our health insurance fiasco is an excellent example…you can’t buy bare-bones policies, and that *is* the result of the nannies requiring a giant list of mandated coverages so we’ll all have “free” acupuncture, etc. when we need it. Gah!
But the lack of 3-speed bikes in Marin just isn’t genuinely analogous.
The things you learn! Now it’s been years since I had any need to look for bikes…so I haven’t. I went to Costco yesterday, and thought I’d check out what was there, since the question had been raised.
What I saw was that instead of Schwinn “flyers” as we used to call them, the old style bike with no gears and fat tires are now called beach cruisers (see link above). These are adult size bikes. Then you step up (in price) to mountain cruisers – these appear to be 3 speed bikes, and have fairly fat tires. After that, you move up to the high and higher grades of various speed bikes with skinny tires, and “racers” – I don’t know what qualifies a bike as a “racer”.
And of course, they had a couple of kid’s bikes – but they were on about a 20″ wheel, and too small for most people over the age of 10 or so.
That of course, made me start thinking about the place of bikes in the world today – definitely not what it used to be. Bikes were a kid thing – boys especially – and allowed them to visit friends and places that we probably only go by car today. These days, by age 10-12, youngsters probably consider it beneath their dignity to go that far unless by car. Besides, parents probably wouldn’t let them. Bikes are now for adults. They’re for exercise, for “cycling”.
The whole concept is different. It’s an odd thing – once I started thinking about it!