THE COBRA EFFECT

 

THE COBRA EFFECT

 

In the days of the Raj someone had

A wonderfully simple idea

To reduce the number of deaths

From snake-bite every year.

 

They decided to pay a bounty

On each dead snake brought to them

But grossly underestimated

The native business acumen.

 

Cobra farms soon sprang up

All over the place,

A nice little earner for

The local populace.

 

When the penny finally dropped –

Or should it be the anna

There was surprise at the villagers’

Entrepreneural manner.

 

The bounty was withdrawn -

The cobras were set free,

So there were even more snakes

Than there used to be.

 

When good intentions do not have

The result one would expect,

And only serve to make things worse,

It’s called “The Cobra Effect”

 

January 2014

 

p.s. When authorities try to save money –

and introduce another layer of management to do so,

it ends up costing even  more – wonderful example of

The Cobra Effect.