[UnderseaLcpl]

Originally Posted by Skybird

However, reading some comments here convinces me that we need more of what has brought us right into the current credit crisis. Let's repeat the old mistakes again, comrades, but this time with greater élan and determination! We can reach the 100 trillion debt mark for sure, yes we can!

An autobahn without traffic rules and speed limits and everybody racing at will with 220 km/h is a safe autobahn. Free ride for free citizens!

Very cute, sky:rotfl:

I can only assume that you're talking to me, since everyone here either agrees with you to some extent or with me to some extent.

Still, I have a lot of respect for your perspectives, no matter how much they may vary from mine, since you're obviously an intelligent person. So, how's about a little more detailed summary of how you could expect anything other than minimally-regulated capitalism to work, and maybe a few less poor analogies?
Surely, you must realize that if I make the argument that we're doing the same thing we've been doing for years and it has led to our current (and many previous) crises, you would have to somehow assert that my conclusion is wrong and maybe provide some rational explanation.

If you're busy or tired right now, I can wait. One can always learn the most from a perspective that they are unfamiliar with, so it's worth it.

Originally Posted by Anteater

The argument "but the US doesn't have a really free market" sounds like the old "but the USSR didn't really have communism" argument to me
:rotfl:

True, there can never be a generally desireable system of pure capitalism, and a system of pure communism simply cannot exsist, so the resemblance is there, I suppose. I imagine that both are like a system of forums where people have to actually read the entire post before they argue with it;

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

The beauty of a truly free market (which admittedly, must have limited, but strong, anti-fraud and anti-theft regulation)

or a system in which people post things that aren't contradictory;

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

The incentive of failure is the only regulation that needs to be enacted

I misspoke myself there, perhaps too focussed on dramatic effect.

Originally Posted by AntEater

Apart from parts of "new" europe and the UK, the US has the least regulated economy on the globe.
Aside of course from Somalia...

According to whom? I can easily produce a large list of sources contradicting this claim, but here is one of my favorites
http://www.heritage.org/research/fea...dex/topten.cfm

Bear in mind that the lower the number in the government size index, the more government there is. The number actually refers to freedom from government as a percentage.

In short, though, you are correct that capitalism cannot be totally free. It must have regulations to prevent fraud, theft, and exploitation, to some degree. However, these regulations should be as unobtrusive as possible, since they tend to hinder honest business more than they damage dishonest dealings.

One thing that I have come to expect from economic left-wingers over the years is a complete disregard for any kind of empirical evidence, so I doubt that the world's growing assortment of failing mixed economies, or the stark contrast of China's "Special Economic Zones" with the rest of the nation, or even the alarming correalations between the stregth of the U.S. economy/dollar value within the past few decades with an increase in socialistic policies, would dissuade them from believing that someone out there has the knowledge to understand the completely unfathomable nature of economics and can make some sort of policy to govern it efficiently and effectively.

Rarely in history are there such stark contrasts as those which economics can show us. Centralization inevitably always fails. Freedom (to a certain point, of course) inevitably generates prosperity.


While some brilliant mind may exsist who can effectively control any centralization of economy, I have yet to see them, so I ask those who would disagree; "What preferable system do you have?" "How would you control an economy more effectively than it can control itself with the minimal regulations of the nature I presented above?"
The rest of us eagerly await your response, becuase all the other people who claimed to have such solutions haven't done such a great job.

P.S. I have to apologize for getting so worked up over such issues. IMO, a healthy economy is vital to a healthy nation. Quite simply, I am not willing to trust the economic welfare of the country to an person or person(s) other than the producers and consumers. The alternative has historically been shown to fail, quite catastrophically on a number of occassions. Nonetheless, I'm the first to admit that I don't know everything (understatement of the century), so I would jump at the chance to hear an economic policy that I couldn't easily circumvent for my own gain.

Feel free to be harshly critical in your responses, it doesn't bother me a bit.