The free market is indeed inefficient, by society’s definition… I.e., suffering exists, even in free markets… Yet the question remains; is there a better alternative… Would rationing, redistribution and central control of resources make for lesser or greater suffering?
I [personally] believe history conclusively answers that question…
Forget about the impressive resumes of the policy wielders… Law degrees and PhDs cannot supersede the predispositions, power trips and political ambitions of their holders…
I just began reading a book (Animal Spirits) authored by two heftily-credentialed economists… PhD’s each, one from Yale the other (a Nobel Prize recipient) from Cal Berkeley… At the get-go they proffer a compelling argument that lack of financial industry regulation and too-small stimulus efforts have left us with high unemployment and a snail’s-paced recovery… They open their case for “equity” (lack thereof being the relative outpacing in income gains for the rich vs the poor) early on… They suggest that tax reform during the previous Administration saw a reduction of the tax burden on the rich far greater than that on the poor…
(I just Googled the definition of “poor”… The U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services [in March 2011] defined poverty for a family of four as earning a total yearly income of less than $22,350… So, doing the math (taking into account the standard deduction and the child and earned income tax credits), I have the family who sits right on the poverty line paying federal income tax at an effective 0% rate… In fact, their effective rate is negative, in that they actually get a “refund”. Although it’s not a refund in that they paid no income tax… It’s in essence a bonus paid by folks who actually pay taxes… That’s, by definition, redistribution… Nothing mean-spirited here; just wondering what else, from a tax standpoint, should be done for the poor…)
Thus far, alas, the authors make no mention of the word ‘freedom’… But like I said, I just started the book, and therefore, notwithstanding their early hint at their solution (larger government) to our troubles, I’ll reserve my [heftily-biased/uncredentialed] final judgment for later…
The fact that I have also read volumes written by economists (with qualifications rivaling those of my protagonists) who seek to prove that big government is the root of our nation’s problems, suggests, as I said, earning a PhD, a Nobel Prize even, cannot supersede the predispositions of their holders…
The President says we are addressing, on behalf of the middle class, “the defining issue of our times”, “a make or break moment”… I sincerely beg to differ; the U.S. was defined long ago as “the greatest nation of all time”… Our founders risked life for an essentially libertarian (freedom, small government) ideal… One that remains, albeit [at times] under the surface… And while political winds will forever blow against this American ideal, its foundation lives in the intuition of every hard working citizen… We’ll allow government to grow only so large, only so controlling, only so destructive before we reign it in… I truly believe we’re verging on a real shift in momentum (regardless of who wins the White House this November)…
Stay tuned…