MANDATORY MARCUS
Seems like the popular argument these days is that capitalism is bad and free markets have failed. Somehow or another the blame for the financial crisis, unemployment and the lack of affordable health care has been laid squarely at the feet of "free markets".
I won't bother to take the time necessary to explain how there hasn't been a lot of freedom in these alleged "free markets" for quite some time. Instead I will simply say that anyone who thinks that the market has failed in these areas should examine the details a bit closer.
Take health care as one example; if you don't think markets can help address the issue of affordable health care you can start defending that position by explaining away your local pharmacy. Your local pharmacy is that place you can go and get free advice from a Pharmacist before you buy exceedingly reasonably priced remedies for the flu, a cold, fever, toothache, stomach aches, dry eyes, minor cuts and scrapes, headaches, sunburns etc. etc. the list could go on and on.
But that isn't really the point of my thoughts today. The point is how well markets can work when we let them. I happened to walk into an Office Depot last week where I passed by something called a Netbook; which is a 2.5lb mini laptop complete with Windows XP, a 160GB hard drive, 1GB of memory, wireless connectivity and hours of battery life all for between $299 - $399 depending on some options you choose.
Then there's the Amazon Kindle. For $299 you can buy an electronic book reader with access to more than 300,000 books (and growing), get free wireless access to download books in under 60 seconds and purchase the typical hardback for under $10 instead of the usual $25.
What you don't find with these products are factions within government mandating that every Netbook be equipped exactly the same way. Or government regulations mandating that every electronic reader deliver their content for a specified price, or that all content available on one reader be provided to every other reader. In other words we don't do to these products what we have done to health insurance, trade, education etc.....you know, nearly all the industries firmly under the thumb of some government agency.
Left to its own devices the market has made it possible for you to have computing power in a 2.5lb mini laptop for around $300; where five years ago it would have cost you around $3,000 and weighed 8.6lbs like my Sony Vaio VGN-A190 (512mb memory, 80GM hard drive and nearly non-existent battery life). And to have, literally at your fingertips, hundreds of thousands of books at substantially discounted prices. For under $700 and in less than 3.5lbs of equipment you can have all the computing power most of us will ever need and store 1,500 complete books on a single device.
So...market driven innovations continuously drive prices down...but somehow nearly everything the government has oversight of becomes more expensive.
I'm not saying there shouldn't be rules to prevent fraud, require disclosure etc...but I'm perfectly willing to take my chances with what the market comes up with (absent intrusive government intervention) on most issues.
Those of you who find the market distasteful, inefficient, unfair etc. may want to ask yourselves what delivers more value to you in more ways...those money grubbing greed mongering capitalists who are behind things like the computer you are reading this on, the car you drive, the air conditioning you enjoy, the music you listen to, the medicine you take, the clothes you wear etc. OR those wise, fair minded, popularly elected government officials who are behind things like the post office, the DMV, the VA, Social Security, tax policy etc.
As with most things, when it comes to government...less is more.
Seems like the popular argument these days is that capitalism is bad and free markets have failed. Somehow or another the blame for the financial crisis, unemployment and the lack of affordable health care has been laid squarely at the feet of "free markets".
I won't bother to take the time necessary to explain how there hasn't been a lot of freedom in these alleged "free markets" for quite some time. Instead I will simply say that anyone who thinks that the market has failed in these areas should examine the details a bit closer.
Take health care as one example; if you don't think markets can help address the issue of affordable health care you can start defending that position by explaining away your local pharmacy. Your local pharmacy is that place you can go and get free advice from a Pharmacist before you buy exceedingly reasonably priced remedies for the flu, a cold, fever, toothache, stomach aches, dry eyes, minor cuts and scrapes, headaches, sunburns etc. etc. the list could go on and on.
But that isn't really the point of my thoughts today. The point is how well markets can work when we let them. I happened to walk into an Office Depot last week where I passed by something called a Netbook; which is a 2.5lb mini laptop complete with Windows XP, a 160GB hard drive, 1GB of memory, wireless connectivity and hours of battery life all for between $299 - $399 depending on some options you choose.
Then there's the Amazon Kindle. For $299 you can buy an electronic book reader with access to more than 300,000 books (and growing), get free wireless access to download books in under 60 seconds and purchase the typical hardback for under $10 instead of the usual $25.
What you don't find with these products are factions within government mandating that every Netbook be equipped exactly the same way. Or government regulations mandating that every electronic reader deliver their content for a specified price, or that all content available on one reader be provided to every other reader. In other words we don't do to these products what we have done to health insurance, trade, education etc.....you know, nearly all the industries firmly under the thumb of some government agency.
Left to its own devices the market has made it possible for you to have computing power in a 2.5lb mini laptop for around $300; where five years ago it would have cost you around $3,000 and weighed 8.6lbs like my Sony Vaio VGN-A190 (512mb memory, 80GM hard drive and nearly non-existent battery life). And to have, literally at your fingertips, hundreds of thousands of books at substantially discounted prices. For under $700 and in less than 3.5lbs of equipment you can have all the computing power most of us will ever need and store 1,500 complete books on a single device.
So...market driven innovations continuously drive prices down...but somehow nearly everything the government has oversight of becomes more expensive.
I'm not saying there shouldn't be rules to prevent fraud, require disclosure etc...but I'm perfectly willing to take my chances with what the market comes up with (absent intrusive government intervention) on most issues.
Those of you who find the market distasteful, inefficient, unfair etc. may want to ask yourselves what delivers more value to you in more ways...those money grubbing greed mongering capitalists who are behind things like the computer you are reading this on, the car you drive, the air conditioning you enjoy, the music you listen to, the medicine you take, the clothes you wear etc. OR those wise, fair minded, popularly elected government officials who are behind things like the post office, the DMV, the VA, Social Security, tax policy etc.
As with most things, when it comes to government...less is more.
2 comments:
Excellent!!! You should have your own show on FOX NEWS...that is, before the gov't shuts that down with legislation...It's a whole new world these days... Keep it up! Great work!! America needs to wake up...I think we all are just now starting to smell the coffee...one can only hope!
Good argument... when you only follow the bit of history that you choose to present.
Our government has provided lots of things that are cheaper and more efficient than the non-governmental alternative. A list is rather long, but here's a start...
A national, all-volunteer military that is at least more efficient than would be conglomerations of militias from the individual states, however I'm not sure that it can be called cheaper by any means (there may be no safe way of finding out the answer to that one). The Interstate freeway system is cheaper and more efficient than if all such roads were privately-owned toll roads. The development of The Internet may not have been done at all without government funding (and Al Gore), and the massive efficiencies that have resulted are astounding. Government programs have made food costs far cheaper for the consumer (than maybe they should be). Government programs exist to ensure that affordable housing exists. The auto and oil industries still benefit from all sorts of government programs that keep fuel costs down and driving cars the dominant form of transportation. Rural areas would not have the telephone were it not for governmental intervention; while private companies said no, the government was able to do it cheaper and more efficiently. One can argue whether or not any or all of these programs should have been implemented. But that doesn't detract from the fact that the government funds many projects that are too expensive for private industry to tackle and which result in increased efficiencies for those industries and/or the consumer.
And to be sure, the government does indeed have plenty of programs that are not cheaper and/or more efficient than private alternatives. And a lot of the time the government program isn't about efficiency or cost savings, but rather about safety. For example, private industry can and does calculate how much it will cost if their product accidentally or purposefully kills a person or makes people sick. They can make a financial decision whether or not to do something about their product having that effect on people. If the straight numbers show no economic advantage to reducing the danger nothing will be done.
While government isn't the answer to all things, it also ain't the problem to all things either.
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