There are some people who think that leaving the setting of many of the terms of California's energy trade to politicians and bureaucrats constitutes a substantially regulated, not a deregulated, energy market. Just because there were some aspects of this trade that were removed from the province of California's government, it does not follow that the market was deregulated--meaning, set free.
Amtrak was sold to taxpayers back in May 1971 as something that would be superior to privately owned passenger railroads, and with the promise that the government would make money running trains. That's something Amtrak has never done in its sorry history. Indeed, it has never once even come close to breaking even, nor does it have any prospect of doing so in the future.
No one forms a firm by acquiring resources for the firm at gunpoint. No one becomes an employee of a firm through conscription or forced labor. Firms are formed, and people join firms, as part of a process of voluntary cooperation that we usually refer to as the market.
The energy problems that plague this country are government created. From restrictions on drilling to U.S. foreign policy blunders, the government has been a veritable "bull in a china shop" when it comes to energy policy. Another layer of political action, even when suggested by "free-market economists," will not solve our problems.
Since the government's rules for money creation are not working, it seems that the only plan of action that today's Keynesian economists should accept is for government to make counterfeiting legal. Lest anyone think this is silly, imagine the "stimulus" benefits that counterfeiting would produce.
Watchdog groups are correct to monitor the disbursement of the Red Cross's September 11 donations. And the issue of appropriate uses of charitable funds promoted for a particular purpose must be addressed. But the same issue should be raised about innumerable government initiatives whose claimed goals are also undermined by the same diversion of resources.
My 7-year old daughter asked me the other day whether I was born before email. "Yes," I confessed. Then she quickly followed up: "Where you born before plastic?" "No," I said, "I was born after plastic but before email." Satisfied that she had placed me within the structure of the history of the world, she went back to her weekend play.
Forest industry and other private timberland owners increasingly are burdened by environmental and other government regulations that in many cases constitute de facto seizures of their property rights.
Last year, Salon.com announced that it was very fashionable to fry your Thanksgiving turkey, a tip which the truly fashionable regarded as at least 12 months out of date. For those out of the loop — not that it matters now — frying involves injecting the turkey with hot sauce and submerging it in 6 gallons of lard heated to 450 degrees.
When there is a shortage of a good, it is safe to say that it is a result of government incursion into the economy. In the Cipro shortfall resulting from the current Anthrax scare, the likely culprits are FDA regulations and the patent system.
