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Do you support the free markets as a means to an end?
Or are you a free market ideologue?
The subject is this: do you put your nation first or your ideology?
If the free markets turns real-estate unaffordable, makes this country destitute, gives multinational corporations the power to crush small business, and allows an influx of migrants, would you still consider yourself a free market conservative?
Or are the markets so ingrained into your identity that you would rather see your country destroyed than your ideology abandoned.
So which comes first? Country or ideology.
People R politicians put ideology way above country (that is why we have had decades of globalization and destruction).
Markets can be too free. When wealth concentrates up to the top too much it generally means a breaking point is near historically speaking. Corporations need to be regulated from becoming too corrupt, large, and oppressive, just like government does. The problem is we've become rather poor and keeping the size of either in check, so we are getting to a point where big government and big corporations are kind of in bed with one another, to a certain degree. They scratch each other's backs. This is not without historical precedent though. AT&T basically had a monopoly over phone service for many decades, for example.
More and more TV stations, networks, newspapers are owned by a few giant corporations. More farmland is owned by large giant corporations. More and more real estate is owned by large corporations or LLCs... everything is continuing to concentrate up the food chain. The big get bigger and can easily swallow up the small entities because they are largely capitalized. If this continues it will pose problems down the road, with things like freedom of speech, affordability of real estate, etc. Eventually things collapse, wars break out, everything resets, and the cycle starts anew. We'll see if it's different this time, with our more advanced technology.
What we have now is not true capitalism though, it's a form of subsidized capitalism where large entities get bailed out and the fed steps in with QE to save the day and prevent healthy economic downturns that flush excesses from the system. There's nobody who really knows what will result of these policies though... we can only speculate. The best analogy I can come up with is putting out forest fires while the forest floor continues to accumulate with dead debris (zombie companies and overleveraged corporations, individuals, governments.) Will it spark an inferno? Who knows.
"Are you an extremist or do you agree with what I think is reasonable?"
That's what I read...
Nothing that's taken to the extreme and which involves humans working together works out well on a large scale. The "melting pot" ideal of America contributed greatly to its success as a nation, and the same ideal can apply to economic theories, too.
Look at the positive aspects of each idea and consider whether they can be integrated into a real world economy without negatively impacting other aspects of it, while maintaining a focus on free market principles. Don't act hastily and err on the side of caution.
"Are you an extremist or do you agree with what I think is reasonable?"
That's what I read...
Nothing that's taken to the extreme and which involves humans working together works out well on a large scale. The "melting pot" ideal of America contributed greatly to its success as a nation, and the same ideal can apply to economic theories, too.
Look at the positive aspects of each idea and consider whether they can be integrated into a real world economy without negatively impacting other aspects of it, while maintaining a focus on free market principles. Don't act hastily and err on the side of caution.
Is that too extreme for you?
I am not the one that calls themselves a free market fundamentalist.
It is conservatives who say opposition to the free markets is anti-American. So I ask, is your ideology for the sake of the country or is it a personal belief (like religion) that will never waiver?
Because the free markets have ravaged wide swaths of this country and conservatives/libertarians don't seem to care.
Markets can be too free. When wealth concentrates up to the top too much it generally means a breaking point is near historically speaking. Corporations need to be regulated from becoming too corrupt, large, and oppressive, just like government does. The problem is we've become rather poor and keeping the size of either in check, so we are getting to a point where big government and big corporations are kind of in bed with one another, to a certain degree. They scratch each other's backs. This is not without historical precedent though. AT&T basically had a monopoly over phone service for many decades, for example.
More and more TV stations, networks, newspapers are owned by a few giant corporations. More farmland is owned by large giant corporations. More and more real estate is owned by large corporations or LLCs... everything is continuing to concentrate up the food chain. The big get bigger and can easily swallow up the small entities because they are largely capitalized. If this continues it will pose problems down the road, with things like freedom of speech, affordability of real estate, etc. Eventually things collapse, wars break out, everything resets, and the cycle starts anew. We'll see if it's different this time, with our more advanced technology.
What we have now is not true capitalism though, it's a form of subsidized capitalism where large entities get bailed out and the fed steps in with QE to save the day and prevent healthy economic downturns that flush excesses from the system. There's nobody who really knows what will result of these policies though... we can only speculate. The best analogy I can come up with is putting out forest fires while the forest floor continues to accumulate with dead debris (zombie companies and overleveraged corporations, individuals, governments.) Will it spark an inferno? Who knows.
I agree with all that. And the current problems are not caused by too much capitalism and too little socialism. As you point out, the government is as likely to be corrupt as the big corporations. And government and business get together to screw the rest of us.
It's easy to blame capitalism, or socialism, for all the problems. Easy to think one or the other big political party is the devil.
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