Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Economic Sense

In no little haste this morning (I worked 8 hours on/8 off/8 on Sunday and Monday, a trick that takes an increasingly greater toll, especially since I'm still getting over the flu; came home last night, ate a snack and sailed off to dreamland, debarking with utmost reluctance this a.m.), so it's a linky morning -- and something worth linking to: Markets Fail. That's Why We Need Markets. Complete with a thumbnail sketch of rent-seeking, why it is bad and the role of governments in enabling same, plus the skinny on the useful service markets provide in letting notions that don't work fail before they become too large.

It may be just horse sense to you and me...but the readin' public has yet to internalize it. And good luck tryin' to hammer the least glimpse of it into most congressthing's skulls, even with the very finest hammer.

4 comments:

John Peddie (Toronto) said...

Ahhh...WE may need markets, but politicians don't.

They need only a general public feeling of prosperity, and the public illusion that they are doing something useful, to get themselves re-elected.

Goal congruence, anyone?

Alan said...

The market doesn't fail, "it" just sometimes doesn't do what we wish it would.

Government, however, always fails.

The market gives you Enron and Madoff*. Government gives you Stalin, Mao and Hitler.

I'll take the market "failures" over the government failures any time.

Roberta X said...

The headline could be more graceful -- perhaps, "Markets Allow Failure. That's Why..."

Ken said...

And good luck tryin' to hammer the least glimpse of it into most congressthing's skulls, even with the very finest hammer.

That's because markets don't pay congressthings -- rent-seekers do.