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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices

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To: kash johal who wrote (108976)5/2/2000 12:26:00 AM
From: TimF  Read Replies (1) of 1579120
 
OT

You sound like a real believer in the true free market for political and philiosophical reasons.

Yes and practical reasons as well.

If you look at history, it is pretty clear that the "free market" needs controls or it runs roughshod over individual peoples rights.

That depends on how you define "free market" and what you
consider peoples rights. Arguably a situation with a true monopoly (not just a dominant company, but one that totally controls the market) is not a free market. I would support some anti-trust enforcement but I think such enforcement should be rare. There are few true monopolies except those that are put in place by governments. Personally I think government attempts to control businesses are far more likely to run roughshod over people's rights then
businesses are. Note- A strong free market means businesses
are largely free from regulation of their businesses practices and they don't face extremely high taxes, but it does not mean they are free to abuse peoples rights. Companies might have gotten away with abuses, or even have hd the government accept the abuse, but this acceptance is not a nessisary prerequisite for an extremely free market.
What would you consider running roughshod over individual
rights? Bashing in the heads of union organizers? Yes that would be an abuse of individual rights. It can and should also be illegal even in an extremely free market. Paying low wages? I do not consider this an abuse of individual rights.

I am not just for a free market because of efficiency but because I support freedom. Heavy government regulation limits freedom. In some cases it is justified, but in the majority of cases the benefit gained does not justify the infringement on our freedom. In many cases there isn't even a benefit gained as not even considering freedom the regulation is a net negative. You equate subsides and
regulation with freedom by comparing my opposition of them to support of dictatorship. I would suggest that more subsidies and regulation bring you closer to an experience like that of living in a dictatorship. Also dictatorships are often not efficient. They often are more corrupt then democracies, and even if the government structure itself is efficient (hardly a given), they often arbitrarily
control sections of the economy (giving out exclusive licenses to the dictators relatives for example). Increased freedom is far more likely to result in increased efficiency than imposing a dictatorship is.

Tim
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