Government doesn't mean 1 of everything. It means that, if you are in the business of delivering something to somebody whether a product or a service, there are certain rules you have to follow.
Obviously there are too few rules in some areas, stupid rules in all areas and too many rules in other areas. That doesn't mean throw out the rules, just get better rules.
What most resembles a 'free' market? It's the financial market. Yet we have governmental rules and regulations about money, about prospectuses, about licenses, about fraud, about insider trading, about fulfillment, about privacy, etc. etc.
The 'free market' of stocks, bonds, commodities etc. isn't FREE at all in the sense that it is unregulated. In fact, if you remove the regulation, it would implode as no one would trust it enough to use it. Without regulation the 'free' market wouldn't exist.
Would you like to ride in an unregulated plane? Would you like to purchase an unregulated car? For every market-driven great plane or great car, there will be many that explode or simply refuse to run.
There are people who cannot fend for themselves, some of them are adults and some of them are children. What's wrong with providing a safety net? Should parents be allowed to kick their toddlers out into the street if they find them too annoying? If an adult gets into an accident and loses both legs, should they be left to lie in the street?
Do you wish to live in a world like this? People on this thread were aghast at what happened in NO because they could see themselves or loved ones in that situation. Is that what you want to live in?
I disagree that people will become lazy without competition. I think that people, like bees, get real physical and mental satisfaction from work. Otherwise, those who are paid more would work more and since when is that the case? I don't think people become 'lazy' (although there are always a few) but I do think they learn helplessness.
Where have you read that welfare causes child abuse? Children have been dying at the hands of their parents since the beginning of time and there is abuse in wealthy homes so that argument doesn't make sense. Multigenerational welfare is, of course, stupid and the way to get rid of it?
- JOBS THAT PAY A LIVING WAGE. Outsourcing of course is the opposite of JOBS. In many cases technology is the opposite of JOBS. There have to be jobs in every society that are repetitive, manual or relatively simple in nature...such are human beings.
- DAYCARE. TRANSPORTATION.
- CONTRACEPTION. ABORTION. PLANNED PARENTHOOD.
- EDUCATION. The more educated the woman, the fewer children she has...think about what THAT says about life on this planet. ...jeepers that's the opposite of Darwinism.
I think we should abolish the idea of retirement and make work a good thing for everyone instead of something you save up all your life to escape from. Everyone who is able should work...it keeps you healthy and prevents your mind from rotting.
Bill Gates is out to spend his money (thank goodness to government sponsored patents and government regulated stock markets) only on those projects that HE believes in. He puts his money into things that are fixable with his money. He isn't putting money into things that don't have FIXING something permanently in mind.
Government, OTOH, provides money for all kinds of basic research that others won't touch. It's on top of that basic research that companies step in and make money. Oh yeah, government also sponsors those universities from which come things like Microsoft.
You get 3 people together and you have politics. You get 2 people together and you can have theft and fraud. It's human nature and the reality of the world we live in.
Businesses are fradulent, corrupt, lying and stupid every single day of the week. Business are such because they're run by humans and humans are such. If McDonald's can sell you sugary sludge that will kill you if you eat it long enough, then an unregulated McDonald's will also put caffeine into your milkshake and cocaine back into your softdrink to keep you coming back.
Have you WORKED in a big corporation? That's no model of efficiency, competition and concern for the customer. In big corporations, the customer is secondary, the corporate structure is primary. Screw the customer, just suck up to the boss.
Have you seen a Dell computer lately? Bits just break off of them and hard disks go poof with all your data. Have you tried MS software lately? Have you watched it crash repeatedly or reformat your pages for no reason?
MS software sucks but it's such a dominant (autocratic, bullying) force that it's frequently the only choice (monopolistic) and a lousy one at that. This happens all the time.
A great deal of what happens in human society is like a rock rolling downhill and gathering moss. One little rock, with the tiniest advantage of size or shape begins to accumulate moss and then more and more and so on. Pretty soon, it's so big it crushes all the other rocks. It's not the best rock, it's not the prettiest rock but it has that slight advantage in gathering moss and pretty soon it's the ONLY ROCK.
Note that Buffet makes pretty much the same argument for his own success.
Remember that Bush ran as the CEO President? He's now piled on $2 TRILLION in debt and now we look like Delta or Northwest or Enron except that we won't jail the government and we own the printing press.
Yep, THOSE are models to emulate. Ya gotta see, the same people who are incompetent and corrupt in business are the same people who are incompetent and corrupt in government. It's not business or government...IT'S THOSE PEOPLE.
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