I can do as you suggest and not buy food, not work, become homeless, move to another country, because no one is forcing me to consume food or live with a roof over my head, but knowing that all of this is being used to avoid the points of my criticisms leaves me with little choice but to ignore it. — NOS4A2
You are no more or less free to choose the rules of your government than you are the rules of your employment. — Isaac
One is a fallacy, the other is a description of my own behavior. — NOS4A2
The objections to Laissez-faire are ethical, not economic.
— Banno
They're also economic. — Benkei
True, it feels as if we don't have any say in the federal government because it's so remote. But we really do. And when it comes to the state and local level, we have a lot of say -- if we choose to leverage it. — Xtrix
Really this makes NOS' position even less convincing, and exposes just how absurd it is to rail continually and exclusively against the "state" while ignoring the far worse injustices of corporations. — Xtrix
Any other "entities" that you might site may take on that role only as sanctioned by the state — Banno
The main problem is that it tends to fail. 2008 is an example. A lack of regulation leads to the explosion of a speculative bubble and everyone suffers.
You were able to do so because your state permits the existence of religious institutions. If they were persecuted into obscurity you would not have been able to make use of them. — Banno
No policy of laissez-faire has existed in the United States. — NOS4A2
Despite the accumulation of regulation, they failed at their one duty, and then used the public purse to bail out their friends. — NOS4A2
No. There was no regulation of derivatives.
The story is that Greenspan was warned that this pocket of confusion was brewing and he refused to do anything about it based on his belief in the virtues of laissez-faire.
He later admitted to Congress that he was wrong. Laissez-faire is dangerous. It causes catastrophes. That's why we don't do it.
All economic catastrophes since then have occurred under the supervision and regulation of the US government. — NOS4A2
I gave you evidence that there is no such thing as a "lack of regulation", and in fact there is a massive accumulation of regulation over time. The causes of the crisis were myriad, but to pin it on a system of laissez-faire when it has occurred in a highly-regulated mixed-economy is a bit out of bounds. — NOS4A2
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