Interesting. I wish Stossel would have pushed the question about pollution a bit. I consider myself a free market capitalist. I am for minimizing government regulation etc, considerably beyond where it is today. Still I think the view that government should just provide a military ( I guess Napitalano (sp?) and the strict Libertarian school go beyond that)is unrealistic. And part of it has to do with population. The more people you have the more government you need. We need food labeling, laws against cell phone usage while driving, screening at airports etc. If you're going to start an investment advisory business you have to "jump through hoops". I don't like this one but understand why it is necessary. I know a lot of people see economic growth as an end all be all. They see any regulation as impeding that growth. I think one of the things missing in economics is a consideration of how economies evolve. Economists find that after a certain income level satisfaction doesn't increase. Despite the tremendous increase in GDP over the past 20 years surveys show people on average feel no better off. So maybe the goal of growing GDP at the fastest non-inflationary rate needs to be rethought. Finally I am a fan of Hayek and read "The Road to Serfdom" many years ago and it was one of my favorites. Unfortunately, I believe it is beyond dispute that we are on that road. I am not sure how to get off of it unless we take Garret Hardin's ("Tragedy of the Commons")advice and control population.
Stossel has a show on The Road to Serfdom that I will place out here in the near future (don't want to overwhelm the readers with too many videos). My thoughts and philosophy of life seem to be similar to yours. Some rules and regulation are necessary to protect individuals from harm, but both local and federal governments have gone overboard. I could not imagine trying to unravel the red-tape to start business these days. No question we are well down the Road to Serfdom.
Interesting. I wish Stossel would have pushed the question about pollution a bit. I consider myself a free market capitalist. I am for minimizing government regulation etc, considerably beyond where it is today. Still I think the view that government should just provide a military ( I guess Napitalano (sp?) and the strict Libertarian school go beyond that)is unrealistic. And part of it has to do with population. The more people you have the more government you need. We need food labeling, laws against cell phone usage while driving, screening at airports etc. If you're going to start an investment advisory business you have to "jump through hoops". I don't like this one but understand why it is necessary.
ReplyDeleteI know a lot of people see economic growth as an end all be all. They see any regulation as impeding that growth. I think one of the things missing in economics is a consideration of how economies evolve. Economists find that after a certain income level satisfaction doesn't increase. Despite the tremendous increase in GDP over the past 20 years surveys show people on average feel no better off. So maybe the goal of growing GDP at the fastest non-inflationary rate needs to be rethought.
Finally I am a fan of Hayek and read "The Road to Serfdom" many years ago and it was one of my favorites. Unfortunately, I believe it is beyond dispute that we are on that road. I am not sure how to get off of it unless we take Garret Hardin's ("Tragedy of the Commons")advice and control population.
Hi Robert,
ReplyDeleteStossel has a show on The Road to Serfdom that I will place out here in the near future (don't want to overwhelm the readers with too many videos). My thoughts and philosophy of life seem to be similar to yours. Some rules and regulation are necessary to protect individuals from harm, but both local and federal governments have gone overboard. I could not imagine trying to unravel the red-tape to start business these days. No question we are well down the Road to Serfdom.