“In a free market, prices convey information. Since our markets — though heavily regulated — still have an essence of freedom, the prices we pay in the checkout line tell a story in themselves.” (the rest is here)
Ten years ago, before being introduced to the Austrian school, this local newspaper would publish my articles as guest commentary. Now the best I can hope for is the occasional letter making the cut. What changed?
Well, ten years ago I was serving on my local government school board (forgive me) and heeding the party line. So my articles on why new taxes benefited the public good were always published. Of course, once I saw the light (after decades of epistemological sin, so to speak), my views fell out of line and out of favor. And so did my position on the page. Such is life.
But let me tell you, it’s better to be crying out in the wilderness that is the letters section than to be just another jester in a more prominent part of the page.
{ 11 comments }
Jim,
The great thing about the internet is that there is a lot of wilderness, and everyone is homesteading their own communities.
You’re not alone.
Free markets cannot be left to go unregulated because greed knows no bounds and stupidity has no limits. To believe otherwise is either simple self-deception or raving lunacy.
WAISAD – ITBOAPW – SH !
Peter, 2 Google hits on “ITBOAPW”. This acronym thing is really getting out of hand.
You can’t regulate markets because lust for power knows no bounds and stupidity has no limits.
“Greed knows no bounds and stupidity has no limits.” So what if that were true? Hey, let’s give some of those greedy stupid people the authority to use force to “regulate” the market, and suddenly they’ll become infallibly wise and benevolent, right?
Peter G,
When government intervention is unknown, that is, when they are not able to pick winners and losers and arbitrarily bestow privilege, the consumers are sovereign. The capitalists/entrepreneurs, who are looking for the highest possible rate of return (“greedy”), must service the needs of the consumers. This is the point of free market systems: the pursuit of self-interest turns those who care little for others into productive/socially useful members of society (incentivized altruism, if you like). Those who are most capable at servicing the needs of society receive the highest remunerations, and can therefore demand the most productive capital/labor. The point of the price mechanism is to direct scarce resources into the most capable hands assuring maximum efficiency. The motives of the entrepreneurs are meaningless insofar as the system is free from government interference. Once the government is powerful enough to disturb this process, then the greedy CEO’s are indeed potentially dangerous (when they partner up with the politicians).
Another interesting thing to remember is the role of public relations. The consumers, even when they’re not acting as consumers, are able to turn the public against certain firms. This makes charity profitable, which is why so many “greedy” CEOs and firms devote so much money to charitable causes.
Thus, your own definition of greed is precisely that–your own. And to think that politicians, who expert only in making empty-promises, can somehow improve this system, is pure stupidity.
Peter, greed is ever-present. Only free markets minimize the fraudulent control greedy people can command over otherwise sovereign consumers.
Greed’s not an issue in a free market. The only threat to competition is government. With government ‘protection’, free markets become controlled, not free. Take the banking industry for example. How in the world did the ‘free markets’ create the highest demand for money during the build up to the housing collapse, as interest rates fell to their lowest level in forty years? When government ‘adjusts’ the normal balance of supply and demand, larger bubbles develop. Most western nations are ignoring free markets with a ‘do something’ attitude, believing they can shape an economy from a distance and with heavy levers of power better than the front line business that only wishes government would not corrupt the playing field. As governments fail, they then tax ‘greedy’
businesses to pay for their folly. We live in sick times.
If greed is ever present and stupidity knows no bounds, then the VERY LAST THING to do is vest these fallible creatures with control over an institution with the monopoly on legitimate coercion.
Pretty soon, they would regulate everything and come up with the most flimsy of pretexts for their own agrandizement!
Oh, right, they _do_.
I don’t think Peter is reading this…
Greed Is Best Transformed By The Free Market.
Greed is nothing more than an undeveloped virtue. It is like: darkness is the absence of light. But greed is not absolute, it is relative. Some are more greedy than others and some people have virtually extinguished greed by transforming it into one of its positive forms.
The beauty of an unhampered market is that information flows freely (without interference by the human limitations – the lack of omniscience and omnipresence and omnipotence) which means that transformation is optimal under those conditions. Again we are not talking about absolute transformation, but rather, relative transformation which transpires over time. This is part of the process of an ever-advancing civilization and the best means to attain that ends is the divine economy (an unhampered free market economy).
I was once a strong liberal who hated these “greedy blood sucking capitalists”! I wanted them taxed out of existence; for I thought that they didn’t deserve all these billions of dollars they had amassed by selling “softwares” or ” cheap toys”! I, the book roaming bright guy( So I thought of myself) deserved a better standing in life than all these college drop out!
I have now realized to what extent our poisonous media and education system is destroying young minds and desecrating the social foundation of liberty and entrepreneurship which allow some people to create wealth in our societies. Let’s imagine a society where entrepreneurship is valued and taught; a school system where the merits of limited government are “indocrinated” and a media that is honest, moral and objective! No, we are all equal and we ought to eat from the same plate regardless of our different backgrounds, families or work ethics! This is a destructive path for it only serves those who are trying to control us and then present themselves as our saviors! We ought to regain our “godly” status of free men capable of taking care of themselves without the state apparatus wandering around to take from some and “claim” to give to others!
Stay strong brother or sister!
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