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Honest questions: 1. Is there any compelling evidence that this incident is attributable to "free market economics"? It seems equally possible that it's attrib

Honest questions: 1. Is there any compelling evidence that this incident is attributable to "free market economics"? It seems equally possible that it's attributable to notoriously poor incentive structures in government agencies. In my view it seems most likely that it's neither, in this particular case. 2. Is there evidence that there is a "recent trend towards rampant free market economics and libertarianism"? Again, this is an honest question; I've not seen a claim like this made before.

zackmorris 8y ago
I'm not sure about your first question, but for your second question the evidence is everywhere. My news feed is filled with multiple articles per day about cutting regulations on just about everything, but mostly impacting the environment, or social justice issues: https://www.google.com/search?q=deregulate&tbm=nws https://www.google.com/search?q=deregulate&tbm=nws Part of the issue is geographic. Being born and raised in Idaho, I've found myself surrounded by libertarians. Conservative-leaning people tend to move here from more liberal states on the coasts. Now where it really gets interesting is when libertarian think tanks do the opposite of what might be expected: https://www.hjnews.com/montpelier/voter-initiatives/article_3bb9ee74-46a6-51da-8004-d98ba6640f5f.html https://www.hjnews.com/montpelier/voter-initiatives/article_... In this case Idaho Freedom Foundation (a local libertarian think tank) is against public voter initiatives (which may someday lead to the legalization of marijuana in Idaho) but is for getting public approval for urban renewal projects like the Boise city library teardown/rebuild and new stadium. You just can't make this stuff up.
- scaphandre 8y ago
  Do you really think Google search trends are indicitive of "recent trends" on political leanings on regulation? If so, you might be interested to see that there is appears to actually be a relative swing toward regulation: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=regulate,deregulate https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=r...
- weberc2 7y ago
  I don't know man. That sounds more like you're in a media bubble than it sounds indicative of some broader trend. The media report the exceptional, not the norm. It doesn't mean you're wrong, but just that this evidence is about as weak as it gets.

zackmorris 8y ago

I'm not sure about your first question, but for your second question the evidence is everywhere. My news feed is filled with multiple articles per day about cutting regulations on just about everything, but mostly impacting the environment, or social justice issues: https://www.google.com/search?q=deregulate&tbm=nws https://www.google.com/search?q=deregulate&tbm=nws Part of the issue is geographic. Being born and raised in Idaho, I've found myself surrounded by libertarians. Conservative-leaning people tend to move here from more liberal states on the coasts. Now where it really gets interesting is when libertarian think tanks do the opposite of what might be expected: https://www.hjnews.com/montpelier/voter-initiatives/article_3bb9ee74-46a6-51da-8004-d98ba6640f5f.html https://www.hjnews.com/montpelier/voter-initiatives/article_... In this case Idaho Freedom Foundation (a local libertarian think tank) is against public voter initiatives (which may someday lead to the legalization of marijuana in Idaho) but is for getting public approval for urban renewal projects like the Boise city library teardown/rebuild and new stadium. You just can't make this stuff up.

scaphandre 8y ago
Do you really think Google search trends are indicitive of "recent trends" on political leanings on regulation? If so, you might be interested to see that there is appears to actually be a relative swing toward regulation: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=regulate,deregulate https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=r...
weberc2 7y ago
I don't know man. That sounds more like you're in a media bubble than it sounds indicative of some broader trend. The media report the exceptional, not the norm. It doesn't mean you're wrong, but just that this evidence is about as weak as it gets.