To: long-gone who wrote (85019 ) 5/1/2002 10:10:19 PM From: John Soileau Read Replies (3) | Respond to OT Richard, you are absolutely right. Socialism, and other misguided attempts to defy market forces, are doomed to failure over time. Unintended and perverse consequences of such policies are unfortunately typical. For example, rent control prevents the construction of new housing stock (supply), yet demand for housing marches on, so the price of housing stays artificially high--the price is actually PREVENTED from falling, by a misguided policy intended to reduce housing costs for the people. Minimum wage laws distort the natural labor market, and merely reallocate wage dollars from the now unnecessarily-unemployed to the now marginally better-paid employed. So a law intended to help the laborer perversely creates additional unemployment. This is the "dead hand of regulation" at work. It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic.
