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So low wage workers should abandon their jobs to spend their time procuring essentials at reasonable prices? Because right now there's a lot of speculation shor

So low wage workers should abandon their jobs to spend their time procuring essentials at reasonable prices? Because right now there's a lot of speculation short-term, but things will go back to normal in a week or so after everyone has enough toilet paper to last until 2050. Free market capitalism frequently generates outcomes that are at odds with a functioning society, and this is just another example.

blhack 7y ago
What makes you think things will go back to normal in a week or so?
- frankharv 7y ago
  You are correct. Once you slide into Socialism there is no returning. I find it ironic that my post was flagged. Socialists also hate Free Speech to the point of violence.
  - rfrey 7y ago
    You were flagged because your post was inflammatory and content free. Plenty of peiple are expressing the same sort of view, but with actual arguments rather than simple minded sloganeering. And I'm not sure what you mean about free speech... Perhaps you're in favor of the government compelling private citizens to not downvote you?
seibelj 7y ago
Free market capitalism has lead to the greatest standard of living ever experienced in the history of the world, especially for citizens on the lowest rungs of society. It may be at odds with your quibbles of modern society, but when viewed holistically I’m so happy that we have clean water, tons of nutritious food, computers, etc. etc. etc.
- krapp 7y ago
  The reason the water is clean and the food is nutritious is due to regulations, not free market capitalism.
  - seibelj 7y ago
    Free market capitalism is not in opposition to regulations. America is a free market. We don’t live in socialism.
    - frankharv 7y ago
      Regulation for safety concerns is not price control.
    - krapp 7y ago
      First, reasonable people do disagree about what free markets are, and many people do believe that free markets are by definition not regulated by anything but market forces. Second, regulated markets are not an indicator of socialism, per se. It's entirely possible for regulated capitalism to exist, it's just debatable whether such markets can be called free. Third, there is still no accepted definition of free market capitalism which makes your former comment true. Regulation is still the primary factor responsible for water and food quality.
- geofft 7y ago
  > clean water Your clean water generally comes from your government-run water supply, not from a private company. Many of the important discoveries in water purification were made by people who didn't stand to profit from it personally, including English doctor John Snow, German scientist Moritz Traube (who funded himself as a wine reseller), US government contractor George W. Fuller, British officer Vincent Nesfield, etc., all of whom published their research. > tons of nutritious food Did you ever hear story of Norman Borlaug the wise? I thought not, it's not a story the libertarians would tell you. > computers Like the ones made in communist China? Or even the ones made historically in the Soviet Union, which kept close pace with capitalist America during the early days of the field, both in terms of fundamental research (cf. the Cook-Levin theorem) and in terms of actual production? (Not that calling America "capitalist" is quite fair, given how much of the work took place under publicly-funded universities and how much was done by government-funded military contracts.)

blhack 7y ago

What makes you think things will go back to normal in a week or so?

frankharv 7y ago
You are correct. Once you slide into Socialism there is no returning. I find it ironic that my post was flagged. Socialists also hate Free Speech to the point of violence.
- rfrey 7y ago
  You were flagged because your post was inflammatory and content free. Plenty of peiple are expressing the same sort of view, but with actual arguments rather than simple minded sloganeering. And I'm not sure what you mean about free speech... Perhaps you're in favor of the government compelling private citizens to not downvote you?

seibelj 7y ago

Free market capitalism has lead to the greatest standard of living ever experienced in the history of the world, especially for citizens on the lowest rungs of society. It may be at odds with your quibbles of modern society, but when viewed holistically I’m so happy that we have clean water, tons of nutritious food, computers, etc. etc. etc.

krapp 7y ago
The reason the water is clean and the food is nutritious is due to regulations, not free market capitalism.
- seibelj 7y ago
  Free market capitalism is not in opposition to regulations. America is a free market. We don’t live in socialism.
  - frankharv 7y ago
    Regulation for safety concerns is not price control.
  - krapp 7y ago
    First, reasonable people do disagree about what free markets are, and many people do believe that free markets are by definition not regulated by anything but market forces. Second, regulated markets are not an indicator of socialism, per se. It's entirely possible for regulated capitalism to exist, it's just debatable whether such markets can be called free. Third, there is still no accepted definition of free market capitalism which makes your former comment true. Regulation is still the primary factor responsible for water and food quality.
geofft 7y ago
> clean water Your clean water generally comes from your government-run water supply, not from a private company. Many of the important discoveries in water purification were made by people who didn't stand to profit from it personally, including English doctor John Snow, German scientist Moritz Traube (who funded himself as a wine reseller), US government contractor George W. Fuller, British officer Vincent Nesfield, etc., all of whom published their research. > tons of nutritious food Did you ever hear story of Norman Borlaug the wise? I thought not, it's not a story the libertarians would tell you. > computers Like the ones made in communist China? Or even the ones made historically in the Soviet Union, which kept close pace with capitalist America during the early days of the field, both in terms of fundamental research (cf. the Cook-Levin theorem) and in terms of actual production? (Not that calling America "capitalist" is quite fair, given how much of the work took place under publicly-funded universities and how much was done by government-funded military contracts.)