Easiest DU Poll Ever !!! - Yes Or No... The Free Market... Generally Sucks !!!

If you need examples...I guess... but how efficient and cheaper has you life become? And when you need CUSTOMER SERVICE to resolve a problem... how's that working out for ya?

:shrug:

I'm afraid we're all on the road to this guy:



And that's when good people give up... and worse.

So as to the free market sucking...

How dare it provide personal computing at rock-bottom prices and ever increasing speeds when we could all be using 66MHz text interpreters to communicate

Innovation is a constant of human existence. Even the dark ages did not stop advancements in agriculture and weapon design.

Except that when I need to fix or change something in my account (which they TAKE MY MONEY for), I'm left on hold for half-hours at a time, and many a time get absolutely no satisfaction with the problem I brought to the merchant I paid money to.

Why is that?

:shrug:

seems to be more revolved around bitching about poor customer service.

I think generally the free market is a good thing, even with its specific faults.

BTW- I never said markets are a bad thing, but when somebody says "free markets", I tend to hold on to my wallet, tightly.

:shrug:

it's amusing that liability costs is the thing most likely to bring manufacturing back to the states

at least in China.

Maybe that's a solution for the free markets here?

But... who'd go first?

Ken Lay is dead... maybe the Utah mine owner???

This might take awhile.

:evilgrin:

by regulations, on the other hand, certainly increase efficiency and productivity. That is probably the best possible solution.

Edit: Content and Miscellaneous.

A free market where bullying rich countries do not make suffocating demands is not a bad thing.

But Free Trade Agreements where the poorer countries are forced to odious conditions are what passes for Free Trade in the world we live in.

I could not care less what the price of one of her CD's costs.

But food, clothing, and shelter???

Enron got imploded just as it was about to "capitalize" drinking water.

ANY market should have controls on it, if THAT sort of shit is gonna be the future. There are a number of things that should NEVER be "for profit"!

What's next... charging for the air we breathe???

:shrug:

I am in favor of a regulated Caveat Vendor Free Market for most goods and services. However, I believe that essential services should be socialized.

Currently we don't even have a Laissez-faire Caveat Emptor Free Market. We have Corporatism and Cronyism. We should try a Free Market sometime.

Business has been subsidized since the Old National Road was built to benefit expansion back in 1805.

In today's world there is not one market, there are many markets. Some are free, some are not.
US companies can have their services outsourced in China, but Chinese can not be insourced to the US.
A US company can locate itself on the Cayman Islands and pay 0 taxes even when making big profit, but people working for that company will still have to pay their federal duties.
Consumers can't even buy their prescription meds in Canada (despite NAFTA).

So producers are the only ones benefiting from our market system. We don't have a free market, we have a trickle down market.

It's not the market principle that is wrong, it's the way we connect different markets (goods, people, money) and apply different rules. Go and manufacture your shoes in China if you must, but pay minimum wage and social security.

As with nearly everything, the answer is somewhere in the middle.

:hi:

Could you please start with... "Free to do what?"

:hi:

(yah, I know it wasn't that great - I haven't played the dozens for years - outta practice doin' 'em at runtime.)

I just thought the explanation option was funny.

because we all know that 'trade' and 'gift' go hand-in-hand like synonyms, right? :crazy:

Social safety net, health insurance out of it, and environmental restrictions for shareholders too dumb to figure out that if they mess up the planet, they are doing themselves harm, too.