Chapter 81 Examining "Market Imbalance" and "Government Failure" in the Name of Mining Disaster

Mining accidents continued one after another, and the casualties of miners were shocking. This is a "malignant symptom" associated with crazy coal mining in some places. The reality before us is that most of the coal mines where accidents occurred were those whose production and safety conditions seriously failed to meet the national standards, and some of them were even shut down by the state repeatedly.Although the country has improved a lot in the formulation and implementation of relevant laws and regulations, in some places, illegal mining is still repeatedly prohibited. Some people say that the reason why these coal bosses still mine illegally against the wind is mostly related to the "friends" made by local officials at all levels, from the "approval power" of industry management to the power of production safety supervision.

We know that there are various reasons for mining accidents, but looking at the reasons for many mining accidents in recent years, we will find that there are many similarities.Generally speaking, there are two aspects, one is the "market imbalance" of the coal industry, and the other is the "government failure" of local management. At present, the "market imbalance" does not seem to be difficult to understand. I still remember what Marx said: "Under certain conditions, when there are profits to be made, capitalists will do whatever it takes, even take risks."

Today, with the rapid advancement of my country's great cause of reform and opening up, the country's economic scale has further expanded, the dependence on and demand for resources has continued to escalate, the contradiction between supply and demand of resources and the pressure on the environment are increasing, and the market prospects of "hard resources" such as oil and coal Bullish all the way.The fiery market will inevitably lead to a cloud of profit seekers. For coal practitioners, what they think about is how to "get their wish" in the coal market.As a result, many profit-seeking coal bosses came up with crooked ideas, and after finding the "protective umbrella", they began to operate in violation of laws and regulations more recklessly, which led to continuous occurrence of mining accidents.At the same time, because the country's legal system in this field is not yet complete, some local functional departments often fall into the embarrassing situation of "no law to follow".To a certain extent, this has created the necessary conditions for coal bosses to get rich at a "low cost".

In addition, the marginal benefit of agriculture in our country is almost zero or even negative, the agricultural population is large, and the supply of labor is almost unlimited. This is the basic "national condition" of our country. These impoverished peasants from poor areas across the country came to Shanxi to work in coal mines in order to feed their families and send their children to school. They knew that digging coal was life-threatening, but they were forced by life to "know that there are tigers in the mountains, so they prefer to go to the mountains."To a certain extent, this provides cheap labor for coal bosses to start their fortunes with "zero investment".

This is a typical "market failure symptom", and the final result of its development has led to another situation: "government failure". "Government failure" has led to its "role dislocation" in the socio-economic environment.The most obvious feature of this is that government departments should provide public goods to the society and become "third-party" performers in an effective and fair economic market.However, due to various reasons, the government has become a stakeholder. Some officials use the name of providing social public products to damage the interests of the public for their own interests. In the end, what they provide to the society is not "public products" but "public products". public evil".

When the market requires government departments to "forcibly" intervene in the extractive industry, some weak-willed government officials will naturally become the rent-seeking targets of some illegal coal bosses.After these leaders received the "benefits" from the coal bosses, they secretly supported the illegal behaviors of the coal bosses, and they often "unintentionally" indulged the illegal behaviors that occurred under their noses. Ironically, after some coal mines were shut down, once the limelight passed, local authorities demanded to "resume production" as soon as possible, on the grounds that this would "make more contributions" to the local economy.The result is that some local officials have damaged national interests, the credibility of the party and the government for mere "political achievements" and self-interest, some unscrupulous operators have obtained huge illegal income, and individual officials have received "bait" money.