I have a new Georgia Political Digest column and an accompanying Georgia Podcast Network podcast up today. Read and/or listen and be amused as I argue that supporting a minimum wage is in line with free market principles and that the Republican Party is full of socialists.
Jason Pye has already weighed in with commentary on the column.
Furious D: Now where am I going to go to beat SEC football fans at their own picks game while hopped up on goofballs?
CJ: I tried to establish a hot dog stand this year and was advised by the Health Dept (Dekalb Cnty) and by a...
Tony: This is a bunch of crap. Where am I supposed to get all my University of Georgia football news now?
Jen: As soon as college football starts, he’ll be back. Book it.
Blue: Say it ain’t so, Russell Tanton? First it was “my pit stop on the information superhighway.”...
Georgia Podcast Network
That’s not all it’s full of.
It was a funny editorial, although I think that the whole idea of a “free market” is largely a myth. There has never been a market that did not have government intervention of some sort–and most people are happy that there is such intervention happening.
For example, look at the FCC. In a free market there would be no regulation on how the airwaves are used (imagine what using a cell phone would be like in a completely -unregulated- situation), there also would not be any kind of controls on the food we eat–taco bell poisons you? Oh well, people will stop eating there. It’s the free market.
Politicians seem happy with regulating that free market as long as the regulation doesn’t hurt the folks who pay for their election campaigns. Surprise surprise.
Joseph, thanks for the compliment on the column and I agree — the free market is a myth. The government prints currency and sets interest rates, which ends a theoretical free market before it could even begin.
And you’re dead-on with your Taco Bell example. 40-hour workweeks, overtime wages and the ability to sue an employer for work-related injuries would all go away in a truly unregulated market. I’m temporarily working 60-hour weeks right now, and it sucks.
The flip side is over-regulating often ends with unintended consequences (like my shitty Comcast cable).
Joseph,
*dingdingding!*
Exxxxactly.
Nothing but love, brother.
No kidding. It’s funny to see how quickly the comments on the other site degenerated into name-calling.
Governments create markets — there’s no way around it. In a so-called free market system, there would be no “buying” and “selling” of real estate, either. If real estate cannot be regulated by the government, then we’re essentially looking at a free-for-all.
Then again, I suppose it wouldn’t be all that bad if we adopted the “free market” thinking. It sounds kind of fun to become part of a nomadic tribe. But then again, even nomadic tribes have systems of governance.
I’m sorry to break it to all the libertarians, but the “free market” does NOT rule all. We’re living in a society, not Thunderdome.
TWO MEN ENTER, ONE MAN SHOPS.
It is always great seeing your name and work Rusty. And a belated word of congratulations on the diet! That is work and dedication.
Tough week for Sonny Do…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9t6T_MUbf8
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/PrintFriendly?oid=oid%3A167983
And way to make it tough for “middle-income families with severely ill kids” regarding the “Katie Beckett Waiver”
RGM,
Remember this blog:
http://www.radicalgeorgiamoderate.org/2005/04/29/out-sociopathing-cynthia-mckinney/
Would like to hear a more in-depth take on VJ’s Senate run.