View Single Post
  #64 (permalink)  
Old 06-14-2007
Luap's Avatar
Luap Luap is offline
Secretary of Defense
NBA Champs 2008

 
Member Since: May 2006
Location: The world
Posts: 2,343

Earth    
Re: Economic theory and politics.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ambiguous View Post
Actually, I am saying they are all doomed. Not right away, but they will all fail in time. Nothing lasts forever. All governments have a finite lifetime.

Let me put it this way. If you start with a government that decides how things are supposed to work, there is a limit to just how free an economy can be. That limit will vary within a range, but there is definitely a limit to just how much control a government is willing to cede back to the people. In order to achieve a market economy, you need to start from the principle of freedom. That principle is not compatible with government mandates.
Yes, our human institutions have a finite lifetime, but that still seems a departure from what you said before. You said that a market economy is impossible if the transition to it starts in the presence of government regulation. Does it matter how much regulation exists, in your mind, or is the primary concern that regulation exists at all?

Please elaborate on this: "In order to achieve a market economy, you need to start from the principle of freedom." What does this principle imply politically and economically? And how does Pinochet's Chile relate to this principle?
__________________
No man is an island...
Each man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in Mankind.
And therefore, never send to know
For whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

—John Donne
Reply With Quote