tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post6478773775337980112..comments2023-10-24T04:29:23.693-06:00Comments on Atheist Ethicist: The True Price of GasAlonzo Fyfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-74403511331896790092007-07-26T13:19:00.000-06:002007-07-26T13:19:00.000-06:00The Free Market is always superior to top down gov...The Free Market is always superior to top down government and political actions.<BR/>We are very pleased to announce the creation of The Free Market Hall of Fame where members of the Freedom Movement will have the opportunity to initially vote on individuals contributing most to the success and advancement of free markets and free people around the globe during 2007. Mark Skousen stated; “It’s time we honored all the great teachers, writers, business leaders, legislators, and think tanks that have advanced the cause of liberty,"<BR/>Nominations for the Free-Market Hall of Fame are open to the public and can be made by anyone by e-mailing ron@freedomfest.com Individuals can vote for or nominate individuals who they believe should be in the Free Market Hall of Fame. Write-ins are permitted. <BR/> <BR/>The categories will include the following academic economists, journalists and writers, business leaders, legislators and government officials and think tanks. <BR/> <BR/>A select group of economists and other free-market supporters will make the final decision and vote on upcoming Hall of Fame members. <BR/><BR/>For more information on the Free Market Hall of Fame go to http://www.freedomfest.com/hofhome.htm <BR/>Ron Holland, Editor<BR/>FreedomFest NewsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-60517017013449726472007-07-13T19:01:00.000-06:002007-07-13T19:01:00.000-06:00By the way, I should add that I am not a free-mark...By the way, I should add that I am not a free-market purists. As a desire utilitarian, I hold that the best system is the one that a person with good desires would support.<BR/><BR/>To the degree that free market systems best fulfill desires, it should be used. Where free markets fail to fulfill desires, it should be abandoned.<BR/><BR/>This will become evident in tomorrow's posting.Alonzo Fyfehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-86610659862993645352007-07-13T18:23:00.000-06:002007-07-13T18:23:00.000-06:00The difference between a free market economy and a...The difference between a free market economy and anarchy is that a free market economy has institutions set up to establish and protect property rights - including the rights that people have to their own bodies (their life and health).<BR/><BR/>If any given system allows one person to damage the life, health, or property of another without cost, then a free market does not exist.<BR/><BR/>Externalities exist where the system allows people to do harm to the life, health, or property of others with impunity. Therefore, where externalities exist, the fundamental principles of a free market economy are being violated.<BR/><BR/>The establishment of a system to establish and maintain property rights is a form of regulation. It is a (sometimes) complex set of rules governing who owns what, what it takes to transfer rights from one person to another, and when those rights have been violated.<BR/><BR/>It employs a bureaucracy to write the rules and a system of courts and judges to enforce them.<BR/><BR/>A person who says that they are for a system of property rights (for a free-market economy), but against government regulation, is advocating an insane contradiction.<BR/><BR/>A free market system is not the absence of regulation. It is the presence of a particular type of regulation which, it is claimed, is superior to other types of regulation.<BR/><BR/>I recognize that this is not how people are accustomed to using these terms in public discourse. However, that public discourse has been substantially confused by special interest groups who want to buy special priveleges to do harm to the life, health, and property of others without giving them compensation.<BR/><BR/>They have strong incentives to confuse the issue.Alonzo Fyfehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-30502068470741888622007-07-13T17:59:00.000-06:002007-07-13T17:59:00.000-06:00By 'ideal free market' are you arguing that regula...By 'ideal free market' are you arguing that regulation and taxation are necessary extentions to the free market in order to turn it into an ideal free market? They seem to be the only way to internalize all the costs. <BR/><BR/>E.g. The dollars I pay at the pump should include some compensation for future generations who will be impoverished by the global warming created by my SUV. The only mechanism I can think of to accomplish that is an environmental impact tax.Psycholshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14979824582570452278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-19323897386651757752007-07-13T09:52:00.000-06:002007-07-13T09:52:00.000-06:00ADHRI am using the term 'free market' to mean a ma...<B>ADHR</B><BR/><BR/>I am using the term 'free market' to mean a market in which all of the costs are internalized. Under this definition, there are no externalities and markets carry information about the effects of others.<BR/><BR/>Perhaps I should have used the phrase 'ideal free market' instead.Alonzo Fyfehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-81019164368300656792007-07-13T09:26:00.000-06:002007-07-13T09:26:00.000-06:00Hm. This wasn't about what I thought it was going ...Hm. This wasn't about what I thought it was going to be about! You're right, broadly, about the problems with how trade is currently implemented. FWIW, it's not just oil.<BR/><BR/>However, there is a comment right near the start of your post which I have to take issue with. You say: <I>A free market carries that information because it internalizes the cost.</I> This is false. Free markets don't internalize costs -- at least, not <I>all</I> costs. If they did, there'd be no such thing as an externality. Externalities are internalized in markets through regulation; and a regulated market is not, except in a distorted and weird sense, a free one.ADHRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00854569640217600183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-11093881888970214332007-07-13T04:08:00.000-06:002007-07-13T04:08:00.000-06:00I wish you had written this a few days ago. You'v...I wish you had written this a few days ago. You've done a much better job than I did when I tried to explain this very point to someone just the other day.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-26772165454353347402007-07-13T01:24:00.000-06:002007-07-13T01:24:00.000-06:00Alonzo--Fantastic analysis. The situation is exact...Alonzo--<BR/><BR/>Fantastic analysis. The situation is exactly as you say. If only people had to face those families in other countries they were stealing from and killing. How much would you pay to not have the memory of some poor sick Nigerian child with no future etched on your memory as you pumped your gas. (Maybe that's a good use for those flat-screen displays on the pump. They should run stories about the warfare and devastation necessary to bring you your particular fillup.)<BR/><BR/>But sadly, our economic system deliberately hides those details from view. Which keeps us from realizing what bloodthirsty thugs we are.<BR/><BR/>We should be striving for transparency in all trade, and policies which promote fair-trade and basic worker's rights. There are literally millions of children forced into slave labor to make cheap products we buy every day. It goes far beyond gasoline--bad as that situation is. <BR/><BR/>People's conscience would not allow this nightmare to continue if they somehow were able to see it. Thank you for your efforts to raise awareness.BlackSunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15591731325290405256noreply@blogger.com