Nice moments in unintended penalties—when one thing that seems like an excellent thought goes horribly flawed. Watch the entire collection.
Half One: Glock Administration
The 12 months: 2008.
The issue: Oakland has too many weapons!
The answer: Supply $250 for each gun turned in to the police, no questions requested.
Appears like an excellent thought, with the very best of intentions. What may probably go flawed?
It seems a variety of weapons aren’t price $250. However they have been that day! Individuals drove for hours—even from different states—to promote their outdated junk that had been amassing mud, typically not the sort of weapons used to perpetrate a criminal offense. In actual fact, the primary two folks in line at one of many buyback areas have been gun sellers unloading their nugatory inventory. This system was estimated to price $50,000, however the police division shortly ran out of money and needed to problem IOUs totaling roughly $170,000. It might have been dearer, besides that Oakland had basically created an open air gun market: Some weapons have been really purchased by potential patrons strolling the road providing $300 for specialty gadgets.
Discuss a misfire.
Half Two: Poppycock
The 12 months: 2002.
The issue: Farmers in Afghanistan are rising poppies for the unlawful drug market. And in spite of everything we have executed for them!
The answer: Money for Poppies, a $30 million program to pay farmers $700 an acre to destroy their crops.
Appears like an excellent thought, with the very best of intentions. What may probably go flawed?
Seems, you may’t receives a commission to destroy your poppy crop if you do not have a poppy crop. Poppy cultivation exploded, with many considerate Afghans ensuring to reap and promote the dear sap on the black market earlier than destroying the remaining vegetation to adjust to this system—getting paid twice for a similar crop. The undertaking was such a fiasco that one British agricultural knowledgeable referred to as it “an appalling piece of complete raw naivete.”
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Half Three: Gasoline’s Errand
The 12 months: 1975.
The issue: Automobiles are utilizing an excessive amount of gasoline!
The answer: enhance common gasoline financial system by penalizing automakers who fail to fulfill effectivity requirements categorized by automobile measurement, creating extra stringent targets for passenger automobiles than for vehicles utilized in farm work and industrial hauling.
Appears like an excellent thought, with the very best of intentions. What may probably go flawed?
Seems automotive producers don’t love paying fines. With a purpose to adjust to the brand new guidelines, automakers started making their automobiles…greater! Voila! Extra crossovers, SUVs, and minivans—all of which technically meet the federal government definition of a “light truck.” That is why a Lexus NX is definitely thought of a “truck.” So is a Toyota RAV4 and a Subaru Outback. In actual fact, “light trucks” now account for nearly 80 p.c of all new automobiles offered.
Method to truck issues up.
Nice moments in unintended penalties: good intentions, dangerous outcomes.
Are you aware an excellent second in unintended penalties? E-mail us at [email protected].
Photograph Credit score: Circa Pictures/-/Newscom; Weaveravel/Wikimedia; United Nations Photograph/Flickr
