Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to re: Leave it to the private sector whenever possible is Tom's mantra

Very naive
Donald — (archived)

The idea that the free hand of the "market" is going to self-regulate without the presence and influence of public policy and regulation is utterly naive and not supported by real life.

Part of the problem is that the products are services we buy are incredibly more complex than they were just decades ago. Individuals have neither the time, expertise, nor access to information to study and know whether or not the medication, house, meat or airplane seat they buy is safe. So they can't physically serve the role in the marketplace you imagine.

Instead we rely upon independent experts who are ultimately accountible to us through our elected officials to do the job. There's nothing wrong with this. It works. Most of the time. Where it breaks down is when our elected officials become corrupt and interfere with the job of these independent experts. This is what the Bush administration is doing. In such circumstances it becomes our job to go to the ballot box and replace them with people who won't interfere and let these experts do the job we expect of them.

When we ask government to regulate, we are asking government to help us as consumers do the job we can't do as individuals given the complexity of modern civilization. In this, government regulation is an essential part of a properly working market without which the market could not succeed.

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