kc2orw
01-29-2008, 05:52 PM
For a few perhaps...
Just figured I would bring one thread over to the new politics section :D
Oh, the Paulies don't come here much. Either they're illiterate or they know their boy is a joke.;)
kc2orw
01-29-2008, 07:13 PM
Oh, the Paulies don't come here much. Either they're illiterate or they know their boy is a joke.;)
Or they know it and don't care, that is why I like to be sarcastic when referring to the Paulettes as Heroes (NOT) they are just like people who know they have a long walk back to civilization. Instead of helping someone who might just make it back they steal the food so they can survive.
What Heroes (NOT!)
kc2orw
01-29-2008, 08:20 PM
Extremely well put!
Free markets do work well. People do operate in their own self interests, and often, those interests work to the good of the whole society.
However, even the capitalist demi-god Adam Smith recognized that capitalism has one major failing - it eventually results in the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a very small number of people.
If nothing is done to offset this concentration of wealth, you soon have Guatemala - a country where 100% of the land is owned by fewer than 100 families - something closely resembling a medieval fiefdom. We had a taste of this in the USA in the last decades of the 19th century, as the 'robber barons' of the time bought up huge tracts of land. Ever been to Grand Teton National Park? That whole huge tract of land was donated by one of the Rockefellers - it was only part of their vast holdings.
I believe we are seeing the forces of monopoly and oligopoly in practice again today. Many key industries have been reduced to a handful, or less, of huge players, where there were dozens a few years ago. Industry after industry is going this route. I used to call on an insurance company in Des Moines that believes there will only be 3 insurance companies left in the U.S. in the next decade or so. The oil companies have bought up virtually all of the independent oil refineries in the country, and closed most of them, giving them direct control of the gas supply, and indirectly, gas prices.
The result is that there IS NO free market operation. The markets are governed by collusion between these huge corporations.
That's why we have anti-trust laws, even if the Republican party (and some Democrats) refuse to enforce them - to force more competition.
I would also argue that there are industries where the profit motive is simply the wrong idea. It's just morally wrong for one class to become wealthy from the illness of the rest of us - and it usually isn't the doctors getting rich. We need to compensate people for our wellness, not our illness.
Very well put excellent reference to Adam Smith the 'gaw da' of the capitalists and the NeoCons