Quote from: arepo on March 13, 2014, 05:26:56 AM

Quote from: billyjoeallen on March 13, 2014, 05:04:10 AM

I honestly and truly believe that almost all the inefficiencies can be attributed to meddling governments and political entrepreneurship of anti-competitive companies. I recognize this is a minority view, but I am prepared to argue it.

let's move this away from generalities, which are all well-hashed arguments on both sides, and focus on the specifics that we see in the global market today.

for instance, how is the poverty trap created by Walmart-esque wage suppression coupled with high unemployment rates attributable to governments?

High unemployment rates are solely the result of minimum wage laws and other government intervention. Every job hunter could get a job if he was willing to accept a wage that would allow his employer to profitably employ him, given his productivity level. Walmart wage suppression allows Walmart to pass the cost saving onto customers. There is no net harm to society. Some win. Some lose. Thems the breaks.

Quote

How is the large environmental externality of shipping and manufacturing attributable to governments?

We all either directly or indirectly benefit from these externalities. I once lived in a town with a pulp mill. We called that smog from the smokestacks the smell of money. When the mill closed down, 300 workers lost their jobs at the mill, another two thousand lost work because businesses closed that were supported by mill workers and I got to breath cleaner air and live in a ghost town. You may value clean air more than me and the enjoyment of neighbors less than me, but on average (judging by the way property values plummeted) most people don't.