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So in other words, the free market has produced a pile of jobs that we don't really need? Lobbyists get paid money to get politicians to supply a deduction as a

So in other words, the free market has produced a pile of jobs that we don't really need? Lobbyists get paid money to get politicians to supply a deduction as a line item on some obscure form Politicians protecting an industry through action or inaction, no matter if its lobbyists or others suggesting that they do, isn't the free market.

bicknergseng 10y ago
Yah. We should make regulation for this kind of behavior.
ptc 10y ago
Oh boy, I really want to hear how you think the "Free Market" solves this problem. Remember kids: If it's broken, apply Free Market liberally to the affected areas.
- spectrum1234 10y ago
  Uh..get rid of the government involved in all these tax laws. Obviously? Are you suggesting complicated taxes isn't the government's fault?
  - rtpg 10y ago
    I think the implication is that countries that espouse their "free market"-ness end up with a lot of regulatory capture. This, telecoms, healthcare. A bunch of people with a lot of money have been able to lock in their positions. It sure feels like pulling out of the church of laissez-faire economics would let us, say, pass laws with things like price controls (or just nationalizing the whole industry!). An aside: complicated taxes aren't the opposite of "free market". For example, giving tax incentives to new companies can help make a market more free by reducing the cost of entry.
  - chongli 10y ago
    Sorry, you're never going to have a society where the government is a 100% neutral referee and everybody else is a part of the 'free market'. As long as there is an incentive to rig the game, people are gonna rig it.
tragic 10y ago
The free market will necessarily reward a small number of winners way out of proportion to everyone else. These companies will have a much larger lobbying war chest. Stuff like this is not somehow a betrayal of market principles, but the perfectly predictable result. It is all very well excluding corporate lobbying from your scholastic definition of a free market. Such a market will never exist anywhere for more than five minutes.

bicknergseng 10y ago

Yah. We should make regulation for this kind of behavior.

ptc 10y ago

Oh boy, I really want to hear how you think the "Free Market" solves this problem. Remember kids: If it's broken, apply Free Market liberally to the affected areas.

spectrum1234 10y ago
Uh..get rid of the government involved in all these tax laws. Obviously? Are you suggesting complicated taxes isn't the government's fault?
- rtpg 10y ago
  I think the implication is that countries that espouse their "free market"-ness end up with a lot of regulatory capture. This, telecoms, healthcare. A bunch of people with a lot of money have been able to lock in their positions. It sure feels like pulling out of the church of laissez-faire economics would let us, say, pass laws with things like price controls (or just nationalizing the whole industry!). An aside: complicated taxes aren't the opposite of "free market". For example, giving tax incentives to new companies can help make a market more free by reducing the cost of entry.
- chongli 10y ago
  Sorry, you're never going to have a society where the government is a 100% neutral referee and everybody else is a part of the 'free market'. As long as there is an incentive to rig the game, people are gonna rig it.

tragic 10y ago

The free market will necessarily reward a small number of winners way out of proportion to everyone else. These companies will have a much larger lobbying war chest. Stuff like this is not somehow a betrayal of market principles, but the perfectly predictable result. It is all very well excluding corporate lobbying from your scholastic definition of a free market. Such a market will never exist anywhere for more than five minutes.