A New Term for Government Interference: "Removin' Cats"

Okay, so each time some self-centered politician puts forth a plan for government to do SOMETHING, we all should remember this story.

Well, so on this island in Australia, scientists and other "experts" decided to remove feral cats to save the bird population. Okay, no biggie right? These guys are EXPERTS; they can't make a mistake. Or can they? Bwaa hahahaha!

Yep, of course they screwed up. Life is much more complex than scientists can even imagine. Adjust one thing and something else changes, but not the thing they were expecting.

So what happened here? Well, turns out those cats were a check on the rabbit population. So remove the cats, the rabbits multiply...well, like rabbits. Turns out rabbits eat the vegetation that birds need to hide. So of course, birds were screwed!

Well, if you read down in the article, it turns out that neither cats nor rabbits were native to that island and that other experts said that the scientists needed to get rid of the rabbits either before the cats or with them. But, then again, that might have let other animal populations change, once again suffering from the same elitist attitude.

So what can we take from this story? Well, look at "global warming." (And yes, that is now in quotes because, as Algore is finding out, the Earth is cooling. Oh dang!) Remember, scientists can barely predict the weather for the rest of the week; and they are somehow able to predict 100 years in the future? Ahh, no. What about other complex systems? Anytime a politician chooses to get involved in the economy, think of "Removin' Cats" cause that can only be trouble. I mean, if these scientists can't figure out what rabbits are going to do, simple rabbits, how the heck are they supposed to know what HUMANS are going to do? Yeah, humans are much more complex than rabbits. (Can you say elitist? I sure can.)

By the way, some scientists DID understand what was going to happen, but that doesn't discount this idea; in fact, it enhances it. See, these scientists were IGNORED! Can you think of economists who have been ignored in these "Chicken Little" calls for more government? Yeah, there are quite a few. See, that is the other half of this. Not only do the "experts" make some critical errors, they also tend to politicize the process, eliminating other points of view from the discussion. So someone who has at least an idea that a complex system is complex is ignored. And so, we get politicians "Removin' Cats!" (Use that phrase whenever you can cause it is awesome, mainly cause this story is just hilarious.)