Clear idiocyDecember 19, 2011Dear Sir,The very eloquent letter by Steve Thomson of Mailboxes in The Royal Gazette of December 16 illustrates in a very clear manner the idiocy of the Government decision to increase import duties to 35 percent at the Airport, thus penalising his business and increasing the cost of living for all Bermudians.What Mr Thomson is guilty of is allowing the public freely to decide how to spend their declining dollars in a way which gives them maximum satisfaction. By giving the public what they want, he has committed the cardinal sin of upsetting powerful competitors with many votes that run to Government to sort out their problems (known in financial circles as rent-seeking), all of this being done at the expense of the public and to the detriment of Mailboxes.In order to be fair, Government should also do the same idiotic thing to other businesses which have the temerity to serve the public in a more efficient and convenient way. Three simple examples spring to mind.1. Banks should not be allowed to operate ATMs because they make bank tellers redundant. The public should be inconvenienced by waiting in long queues at a bank in order to cash a cheque. This is not as idiotic as it sounds as President Obama a few weeks ago blamed ATMs for causing unemployment in the United States.2. Computers, such as the one on which I write this letter, should also be banned as they have put out of work typewriter mechanics and shorthand typists (remember them). E-mail should also be banned as they have destroyed much of the work done by our letter carriers who were never interested in delivering mail in the first place.3. Cars should be banned as they have destroyed the livelihoods of horse carriage drivers, as well as those of saddle makers.There are many other examples I could use, but suffice to say that Paula Cox seems to wish to be known as King Canute, that medieval monarch who commanded the tide to go out but only got soaked when the sea refused to obey him. Maybe Paula Canute will be honoured by the Queen in the New Year’s Honours List.Anyway, good luck Steve, in your noble attempt to create a new business, and be assured that idiots rarely win over innovators like you who do so much to make everyone’s life easier and less expensive.ROBERT STEWARTSmith’s