[Les Cargill[_4_]]

hank alrich wrote:
William wrote:

"Neil wrote in message
...
William Sommerwerck wrote:

If anyone is interested in a little more of the psychology
of all this, pick up "ECO FADES -- How the Rise of Trendy
Enviromentalism is Harming the Environment" by Todd Myers,
published by the Washington Policy Center in Seattle, WA.

The Washington Policy Center is a right-wing organization that
supports free-market solutions to problems. Oddly, I do, too
-- except that I don't believe the free market always has a
real, effective solution to problems.

I would like someone to point out where a free market has ever
existed in the history of humans, because I can't find a single
example. If it doesn't exist, decisions based on the fantasy of
it re no better than any other scam or hoax.

I would say we have a basically free market in this country. It
works fairly well when greed doesn't run rampant, and there are no
attempts to manipulate it. Historically, many economic collapses
(such as the most-recent) were the result of attempts to manipulate
the market, or corner a valuable commodity.

I'd say you're running on fantasy. "Free markets" give away vast
areas of "public" land for the building of railroads,

Nope. Nothing free market about that. It's just like a divine
right king giving other people's land away as a reward
for victory in battle. That was Manifest Destiny, and it
wasn't free at all...

Was it necessary? Good question. Slight tangent; James
McMurtry is the only living songwriter who seems to
write about Manifest Destiny (mainly its effect on
the present day) ... prolly 'cuz his Dad
did, too..

slaves provide uncompensated labor that allows the nation to accrue
wealth,

Again, no. Nothing in any system derived from say, Adam Smith
justifies slavery. Slavery is the abject *antithesis* of free, much
less "free market". Slavery is the cooption of government itself
in granting the privilege to force labor from others.

Don't confuse the liars with what they're lying about. A
Dred Scott decision is worth about a half million deaths...


General Motors buys and then eliminates public transportation in
favor of their own products,

Cecil's always good:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/551/did-general-motors-destroy-the-la-mass-transit-system

Granted, that's just LA...

Money shot:
"...but blaming GM is like blaming the inventor of gunpowder for war."

we save the corrupt bankers from their well-deserved free-market
fate.

Nothing free market about that either.

For starters.

Neil is spot-on here. Few have the eyes to see it and the balls to
say it.



I used to think that stuff, too. I was wrong, one fallacy at a time,
over decades. It was fun finding out, though.

--
Les Cargill