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A question for conservatives and/or libertarians. | by Sharku | 2009-12-02 07:52:23 |
| Attemt at answers |
by veran |
2009-12-02 14:13:49 |
**"government should bug out, privatize the whole lot and let market forces sort out the chaff from the wheat". That's fine and great in theory, but what of the sorting out period?
How do you feel about the current, rather less than libertarian system?
Point: no matter what system you establish, there will be a "sorting out period." Some systems rely on keeping everything stuck on that period. (Socialism) Others try to keep a rigid order (feudalism). All have to date failed spectacularly. (Gulag, anyone? How about a french revolution or two?)
**I've been thinking about this a lot lately and couldn't come up with an answer, and I don't think I've seen an answer to it either.
Welcome to the world of pain. Everybody wants to inflict their own brand of pain on everybody else, nobody respects the wishes or needs (either or both) of their fellow. Libertarians may not care, but their principle is not messing with the others.
Which is actually fairy christian. (Don't drag crusaders into this, or any of the numerous xian cults. They aren't really.)
**Suppose you have a market with a lot of bad or not-quite-up-to-snuff companies providing some service.
Sort of like now?
**Companies don't disappear overnight,
Oh, yes they do.
**it usually takes years or decades even for one to succeed or fail.
True. But then wham! and they are dead.
**For things like say public transport, it'll be annoying that the trains don't run on time, and there will be some economic damage while the bad companies go out of business or clean up their act, but ultimately the harm done will be relatively small.
Hong Kong had a private boat-bus thing. It got govenrmentalized. The customers weren't satisfied.
It goes both ways, that.
**For things like healthcare (insurance) though, where I've also seen the "let the market sort it" approach proposed, what happens to the people who happen to be with a sub par provider?
They get sub-par treatment.
**Are they collateral damage, willingly suffered for the greater good of having a better market situation some time down the road?
Or unwilling. The world is not fair.
**Considering that in this specific case there's a very real chance of totally preventable illnesses, deaths and a general lower health of the populace.
And consider this: some people just can't be helped. No matter what system you employ. The same 1-2% always end up in the same situation.
Just make sure they aren't a nuisance.
For the record:
In my country the government is hopelessly corrupt, apparently paid for by large companies (it actually gets worse) and the companies are completely corrupt, the bigger, the more corrupt.
In an actual libertarian free market, I might be in a job more suitable for me. As it is, not so. (none of you live in a libertarian system) Everybody is in a job provided them by their respective circle of friends (mafia connections).
There are exceptions to this, but those are few, and usually rather nasty. |
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