[ExI] EP and Peak oil

Lee Corbin lcorbin at rawbw.com
Tue Apr 1 16:10:36 UTC 2008


Damien writes

> At 03:11 PM 3/31/2008 -0700, Lee wrote:
>>[PJ:]
>> > BTW, Lee, in my research on government/corporate collusion, this
>> > behavior is the rule, not the exception.  So much for free markets.
>>
>>"So much for free markets"?  Perhaps you can point out a few cases
>>from history where some other system worked better to "distribute
>>scarce resources which have alternate uses".  [...]
>>So, PJ, given a free hand, just how would or should a replacement
>>for the market be devised?
> 
> This looks to me like another ideological kneejerk. PJ's point (I 
> believe) is that what people seem to refer to as the US free market 
> is generally--I might prefer "frequently" and "importantly" NOT A 
> FREE MARKET but (read her lips) "government/corporate collusion."

Well, if that's the true emphasis here, then thanks for pointing it
out. It follows that you all should announce yourselves as
"free market enthusiasts" and "free market proponents". You
should phrase your condemnation of the above as "government
interference and intrusion" in the workings of the free market,
or of free market capitalism.

But you never, never put it that way, do you?  Why is that?

No, it's *always* phrased by those with a history of left-leaning
politics as though something is wrong with the free-market itself,
as if somehow if we just perhaps elect people with the "right
stuff" they can take control and make everything right. Won't
happen, of course.

Okay---assuming for just a nanosecond that there is no problem
with language, and that you're not still all reeling consciously or
unconsciously from the demise of Communism and the proven
poverty-creating socialisms of one kind or another---just what
are your concrete proposals?

What about this one:  we must make an effort to REMOVE
as many laws as possible that interfere with truly free market
activity. Lobbyists fighting for government largess must be
countered, and the government power and wealth over which
they're fighting must not be taken from the people in the first
place.

I do realize, as you know from my last post, that such
a process must be gingerly applied, and that only gradually
can many government "oversight" functions be replaced by
voluntary ones. 

Just make it clear how you'd like things to move, instead of
just complaining.

Thanks,
Lee




More information about the extropy-chat mailing list