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"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers and health professionals on Friday to check for three counterfeit lots of the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor that are being recalled by a Kansas City-based distributor..."

This from another thread today on Free Republic. Still trust the market place?

Let me understand what you are asking. Under the watchful eye of government workers, some drugs that were probably imported from India ( according to a post in the thread) - because they are cheaper, and this is a failure of the market place and not the government workers?

Is this what you are asking?

Consider the fire in the night club that claimed approximately 100 people. The local Fire department and government assumed responsibility for fire safety with their ordinances and inspections. After the fire they took no blame, they just called for more government responsibility. Feel any safer?

A mountain road without guardrails is safer than the same road with imaginary guardrails. Trusting the government to protect your every move is as stupid as depending on imaginary guard rails.

As stupid as trusting a Judge, who sends revenue agents out to terrorize whole apartment buildings, to respect the Constitution? I think so.

"Let me understand what you are asking. Under the watchful eye of government workers, some drugs that were probably imported from India ( according to a post in the thread) - because they are cheaper, and this is a failure of the market place and not the government workers?"

A failure of the market place? Au contraire! A stunning success of the market place.

Without government patent protection (allowed by Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution), this is exactly what would happen worldwide. In the short term, this is great for consumers (cheaper drugs). Of course, in the long run, the (evil) pharmaceuticals will go out of business. Hey, don't worry, you can go to India to get your drugs.

The point of the Lipitor article was that the market place is not to be trusted. I could have just as easily cited WorldCom, or Enron, or Martha Stewart's shady dealings. You need to get out of your John Galt world -- it was a good read, but it was fiction, Mrs Mark.

Privatizing the FDA sounds good on the surface, but I'm not convinced it would be any more efficient. Maybe less so, since they could be sued out of existence. Plus, they would have no power to enforce laws.

As far as guard rails and fires, hey I'm with you. Tear down the guard rails and let each nightclub set their own fire safety standards. Let the buyer beware! Feel safer?