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There have been several postings here lately suggesting that we convert to a socialist economy or that capitalism is doomed and/or inherently evil. I am posting this to explain why I, as a Democrat, support having a market based economy.
The first reason is that I am a freedom loving Democrat. Heck, it was the oppressiveness of Republicans that drove me away from them. I see a market based economy as the most free economic environment. I can sell my goods and services to whoever wants to buy them for any price that we both agree upon. I like that much better than having anyone dictate what I can produce or how much I can charge for it.
With that said, I definitely don't advocate for completely unregulated markets. We need regulations to protect us from externalities like pollution. We need regulations to protect against discrimination. We need regulations to protect against exploitation. I love free markets, but I also love to see them well regulated.
My second reason for favoring market economies is that I find the pricing information they generate to be essential to the efficient allocation of goods and services. Knowing how much to produce, what to produce, and where to distribute it is extremely difficult. I don't think that a centrally planned economy can work. It is all the little individual decisions on what how much people are willing to pay for goods and services that tell people what to produce.
My final, and most important, reason for supporting market based economies is that they work. While it is great fun to engage in theorectical debates about the best way to do things, I also like to stay grounded in how the world really works. When I look at the most successful countries the world as measured by median income, they all rely on market based economies. The best ones supplement that with strong safety nets and smart regulations, but the core of their economies are market based.
The record for government controlled economies is not very good. The living standards in countries like that have virtually always been relatively poor. I think that they fail for two reasons - lack of pricing information to allocation resources and inherent corruption problems.
That's my view. I want what works for the most people. I don't believe in perfect systems. My philosophical views and real world observations lead me to believe that market based solutions with smart regulations and strong safety nets are the best solution, not government controlled economies.
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