From: EvMick@aol.com
Date: Sat Dec 04 1999 - 22:53:34 MST
It Appears that once upon a time :
> > rowen@technologist.com writes:
> >
> > > if the
> > > "free market" really worked it would be innovative;
To Which I replied...
> >
> > It's kinda hard to tell if it will work or not....I know of no example
> where
> > it's been tried. What has been called free was in reality just less
> > regulated.
>
To which rowen@technologist replied...
> There is an interesting paper on this, CAPITALISM: A TREATISE ON
> ECONOMICS by George Reisman. Permit me to quote a bit from it:
>
<snip large portion of quote with which i mostly agree>
> The freedom of production in the United States led to an unprecedented
> outpouring of innovations—to the steady introduction of new and pre-
> viously unheard of products and to the constant improvement of methods
> of production. This, along with the constant availability of an adequate
> supply of savings to implement the advances, produced the most rapid
> and sustained rate of economic progress in the history of the world. [39]"
Now isn't this a contradiction? It seems that a free market DOES produce
innovations.
I contend that it does. I also contend that the degree of freedom of the
market and the quantity of
Innovations are directly proportional. Agreed that the eara (pre income tax)
that you
reference is less restrictive than now...but it was not a true 'free
market'.....there were
still taxes and regulations....(the whiskey rebellion comes to mind).....just
not as stifleing
as currently exist..
Furthermore it is quoted.
>
the failure rate of small businesses due to the
> devastating purchasing power of corporations is a grievous limitation of
> "free enterprise".
This could be....but corporations are a creature of the government's tax
policy. ( Just as the Mafia is a
creature of the government's implementation of Prohibition...and Drug Cartels
are a creature of
the "war on drugs" ) In my opinion it follows that in a free market
corporations would have less of an
advantage than they currently do and small business would be in a more
competitive position.
You further state.
> Please understand that I am a critic of Capitalism because of its inherent
> contradictions and its distributive tendencies with respect to wealth.
The contradictions are not evident to me. As I illustrated...these supposed
contradictions are the
result of non free market forces...that is...created by the government..
EvMick
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