3 ms·

>"I think the lesson to learn here is that there is no such thing as a 'free market'" That's a popular piece of rhetoric, but I don't buy it. Certainly a marke

>"I think the lesson to learn here is that there is no such thing as a 'free market'" That's a popular piece of rhetoric, but I don't buy it. Certainly a market with government handouts or regulations that bias the interests of some players over others is less free than a market without such interference. I think we can say that the transportation market was "more free" after competition killing regulation was removed from the trucking industry under the Carter administration, for example[1]. (People forget about Carter's libertarian streak, but libertarians don't. You can also thank Carter for deregulation of air travel[2] and delicious microbrewed beer[3].) Rather than lobbying to bias the market in favor of our preferred people, as you suggest we do, it is perfectly possible to lobby in favor of less special-interest rules. In fact there is a significant minority of people in this country who do just that. We call ourselves "libertarians". [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Carrier_Act_of_1980 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Carrier_Act_of_1980 [2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_Deregulation_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_Deregulation_Act [3]http://www.theatlanticwire.com/features/view/feature/How-Jimmy-Carter-Saved-Craft-Beer-1766 http://www.theatlanticwire.com/features/view/feature/How-Jim...

guelo 16y ago
Yea that's been working out really well. /sarcasm
joe_the_user 16y ago
"That's a popular piece of rhetoric, but I don't buy it. Certainly a market with government handouts or regulations that bias the interests of some players over others is less free than a market without such interference." Really? What about a market in which a private entity behaves similarly or worse? The British East India company, for example, literally owned a country. With only the actions of a "private" entity, India's market were open primarily to ... British goods. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_rule_in_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_rule_in_India ("During the period, 1780–1860, India changed from being an exporter of processed goods for which it received payment in bullion, to being an exporter of raw materials and a buyer of manufactured goods." ) What I've said to the libertarians here is "when everything is private, I will invest in the tanks, I think they'll be a profit center..."

guelo 16y ago

Yea that's been working out really well. /sarcasm

joe_the_user 16y ago

"That's a popular piece of rhetoric, but I don't buy it. Certainly a market with government handouts or regulations that bias the interests of some players over others is less free than a market without such interference." Really? What about a market in which a private entity behaves similarly or worse? The British East India company, for example, literally owned a country. With only the actions of a "private" entity, India's market were open primarily to ... British goods. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_rule_in_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_rule_in_India ("During the period, 1780–1860, India changed from being an exporter of processed goods for which it received payment in bullion, to being an exporter of raw materials and a buyer of manufactured goods." ) What I've said to the libertarians here is "when everything is private, I will invest in the tanks, I think they'll be a profit center..."