Re: Will the free market solve everything?

Michael Lorrey (retroman@tpk.net)
Mon, 24 Feb 1997 17:37:54 -0500


J. de Lyser wrote:
>
> At 01:37 23-02-97 +0000, william kitchen wrote:
> >The standard Libertarian (and Republican) belief is that free market
> >economies inherently favor the smartest, hardest working
> >entrepreneurs and best products. This is true. But they also hold
> >a belief that this principle causes free market economies to be
> >inherently stable and fair. This is not true. There are other

It is not true that they hold this beleif. Libertarians beleive in
equality of opportunity, NOT equality of result. Libertarians beleive in
economic forces unleashed to allow natural selection to proceed
unimpeded to improve the human condition. THis is why libertarians tend
to be highly intelligent, educated, and average high incomes, as they
practice what they preach. THis unfortunately limits the growth of the
party, as the principles of libertarianism tend to disfavor those with
deficiencies which inhibit economic excellence.

I personally tend to think that children should be raised in equal
social circumstances, to allow as close to an equal level of opportunity
as possible, but once they reach whatever is considered "adulthood",
they live by TANSTAAFL.

As libertarian as I tend to be, I still have had enough personal
experience with people I call "trust fund babies" to consider huge
inheritances as a net evolutionary disadvantage.

> >forces than can operate within such an economy that can defeat the
> >built-in self-correcting mechanisms. When you begin with a scenario
> >in which wealth is distributed fairly evenly, then a free market
> >economy will work very well and will result in high productivity,
> >with clear benefits for those who produce and denial of those
> >benefits for those who do not.

This is a decent idea so long as you don't propose taking wealth away
from people. Making everyone start at zero once they reach adulthood is
what I would call equality of opportunity, but redistributing the wealth
isn't, its penalizing success.
>
> Distributing the wealth evenly is not needed and will do a lot of damage
> early on, it could take years before the economy restores from such a blow,
> and many people will lose their confidence in the system, as who is to say
> such a redistribution is not scheduled again, and again ?, and what then
> would be the motivation to be succesful ?. IMO a good system of social
> mobility through a guaranteed high quality educational system will do the
> trick, and far more efficiently.
>
> J. de Lyser
> brussels

-- 
TANSTAAFL!!!

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