Posted on 09/06/2001 2:48:24 AM PDT by The Other Harry
Thursday, September 6, 2001 Laissez ain't so fair after all
Molly Ivins - COMMENTARY
AUSTIN - Most of us assume that the fatal weakness of libertarian thinking, which is so dominant in this administration of recycled Reaganism, is its eternal tendency to apply simple solutions to complex problems - which is, of course, also the reason for its appeal. All is reduced to the market, the market rules, the market is God. AUSTIN - Most of us assume that the fatal weakness of libertarian thinking, which is so dominant in this administration of recycled Reaganism, is its eternal tendency to apply simple solutions to complex problems - which is, of course, also the reason for its appeal. All is reduced to the market, the market rules, the market is God.
James Arnt Aune, formerly with the Bush School at Texas A&M, however, provides a more comprehensive indictment of libertarian thinking and finds its most striking feature is the avoidance of empirical investigation.
Or, as a Texas pol observed recently, "Bush is doing the same thing to the nation he did to Texas, and in even less time." The same thing is, obviously, the endless Bush Jr. mantra: "Tax cuts good, regulation bad; tax cuts good, regulation bad."
Do they never stop to look at what tax cuts and deregulation achieve? There are always winners and losers under deregulation, but even the briefest summary shows the unmistakable pattern.
Ditto local phone competition. Prices are up 12 percent, not down at all; the companies that were supposed to compete against the regional Bells are in bad shape, as is competition in the long-distance field. Calls for re-regulation already abound.
The gradual development of near-monopolies - only the biggest survive - is also a familiar pattern in these cases. Airlines have dropped service at small communities and routinely over-schedule at major airports. The system drifts into worse shape annually, with no end in sight, and Congress has done nothing because God forbid that anyone should interfere with the free market.
The industry has also the seen the growth of scam schools that turn out poorly trained or completely untrained drivers. The trucking industry has a 150 percent annual driver turnover rate and is short 80,000 drivers.
Libertarians, even those who actually cover government, seem to believe that government is bent on a mindless quest for ever-greater power. In my experience, there are only two ways something gets regulated: a public disaster of such epic proportions that people demand regulation, or the industry itself asks for regulation.
That may strike you as unlikely, but it is to be seen every session in every legislature as the watch-repairers or the lawn-sprinkler installers or some other group arrives to demand that their high calling be regulated and practitioners certified.
In the case of natural monopolies, such as utilities and phone companies, regulation is needed for the very reasons of which we are now so unpleasantly being reminded: A monopoly will just gouge the hell out of consumers.
I am a great believer in perpetual reform and just as annoyed by bureaucratic paperwork as anyone else, but willful stupidity in the face of evidence is also annoying. Capitalism works well only in a carefully constructed cradle of law and regulation (Russia being one case in point). Greed is not good. Where there is greed, there is no vision, and (not to coin a phrase) those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.
Molly Ivins writes for Creators Syndicate. 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045
Ha ha ha ha!
Ms. Ivins, I say this because I think you'd rather be called dishonest than ignorant. At least, all the other left-wing opinion-mongers seem to prefer it.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace of Reason: http://www.geocities.com/fporretto
Other than that, it is laughable to pin the libertarian label on Bush & co.
And is "Reaganism" a newly coined word, or have I just been missing it?
An exercise for the student: examine Cato and Ludwig von Mises Institute and reply, point for point, to this scribbler.
I have found the problem with leftist theory is their eternal tendency to apply complex problems to simple solutions.
Bull. Tax laws drove the S&L's out.
This is a fine example of Ivin's in-depth analysis.
Profound analysis, Kommrade Ivins.
- Nope. - We KNOW the gov quest is mindless & neverending.
In my experience, there are only two ways something gets regulated: a public disaster of such epic proportions that people demand regulation, or the industry itself asks for regulation.
That may strike you as unlikely, but it is to be seen every session in every legislature as the watch-repairers or the lawn-sprinkler installers or some other group arrives to demand that their high calling be regulated and practitioners certified.
- Again molly, it isn't 'unlikely' at all, it is human nature. That is why we have a constitution, which supposedly LIMITS the power of legislators to regulate industry & individuals.
People like you, who don't understand basic constitutional principles, are the fatal weakness of republics. Not libertarians.
To attribute the Savings & Loan bailout to libertarian policy is laughable. If it were up to libertarians, the government would have nothing to do with insuring private bank accounts.
About utilities deregulation, she simply comments "no good" without further explanation. My assumption is she expects her personal opinion to suffice for facts. The fact is, private utilities have only begun entering the market within the last two years and it's too early to make any assesment of their long term success. But in many areas where private utilities are available, like Enron energy, residents have opted to switch. They're evidently bringing something to the table.
I remember when a long distance phone call cost 40 cents a minute. Now you have a choice between many long distance services, some charging as little as 5 cents a minute.
Airline service is available by some carrier in nearly every city of any size at all. Maybe you can't catch an American Airlines 747 out of Eau Claire, WI, but a quick drive to Minneapolis will get you there. And prices have come down to a point where even a lower middle class family can afford air travel.
Cable television in the past offered about 20 channels and charged around $20 a month. Now you can get somewhere between 50 and 100 channels for about $40 a month. Adjusting for inflation or not, that's a net decrease in price per channel.
Truckers are still making a decent rate of pay at 25 cents a mile. The fact that so many people are lured to trucking schools is evidence that the industry is hardly a "sweatshop on wheels". And lower prices have benefitted millions of lower income families. Which is it, Ms. Ivins, do you want higher paid truckers or lower priced consumer goods. Pick one because to have both is impossible, unless you're a terminally myopic liberal.
Ms. Ivins, like a lot of liberals, expect libertarians to craft a perfect world in order to be taken seriously. If liberals can't do that, why are libertarians expected to?
This is a fine example of Ivin's in-depth analysis
Agreed. California's a mess because, as Rush and many others have pointed out, they weren't really deregulating. Here in PA, we really did deregulate. It was smooth and easy, we do not have a power crisis and never did, and most people probably don't even know it happened.
The author's logic on this point, as well as most of the others, is very flawed. And I'm not even that much of a libertarian!
The reasonable parts of Libertarianism were purloined, stolen, lifted, co-opted directly from Republican positions. The other parts are their owm ... and more closely resemble Dem / LIBERAL stances and now, the GREENIES .
180 degrees. Republican positions consistent with the libertarian principle of non-initiation of force are reasonable. The rest is socialistic crap.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.