Capitalism at its finest

This is an example of why we should embrace a different economic structure.. news.yahoo.com... imagine if you also had to subscribe to law enforcement, hospitals, and postal services...

Mod Edit: All Caps – Please Review This Link.

reply to post by Mental Maze


This is not capitalism. The fire department has NOTHING to do with the free market. What happened here was a complete failure of a ridiculous policy, and a fire department that puts red tape before morality.

reply to post by Mental Maze


This has been brought up a few times already. What I find interesting is how all of the fascists respond to this as proof that free market economics doesn't work, while at the same time the entire debacle is being caused by the government itself.

...the entire debacle is being caused by the government itself.

Need I clarify further?

Imagine I you had to buy your own cloths, or food? Everyone would be naked and starving. It is ridiculous to think that security and health care are so essential that the government needs to provide them while the most essential provisions like food and shelter are not.

Great Leap Forward anyone?

reply to post by Mental Maze


As I contemplated the many arguments in regards to the fire policy I have two takes on it.

One, that the policy is a bit shortsighted and did not completely hash out all possible outcomes of its creation. Thus we have a house that burned down.

On the other hand, the fire department that showed up, did their jobs as prescribed. 1: They responded to the fire. 2. They ensured that no human life was in danger because of the fire. 3: They ensured that the fire did not threaten other buildings or property.

Both are valid arguments and both should be looked at when discussing the policy at hand. The area is rural and the land owners understood their risks when they chose not to pay the amount to have the 'extended fire coverage' (that bit is made up, because I truly believe they received the minimal service, that which I outlined above in three points.)

Again though Maze, you are mixing economic theory with unrelated incidents. This is like saying APPLE PIE AT ITS FINEST and showing us a peach cobbler instead. If you are a computer person, think of capitalism as the software and the network as the free-market. Wholly independent of each other in terms of operation, but the free market (the network) still operates without the software (capitalism).

You have an affinity towards capitalism and that is okay in itself, but you are doing little to discuss why and how you have such. Between the Capitalism=Imperialism thread and this one, it is obvious that you have little grasp on the economic theory of capitalism.

Originally posted by BobbinHood
reply to post by Mental Maze

 

This is not capitalism. The fire department has NOTHING to do with the free market.

And capitalism is NOT free markets.

Capitalism is the private ownership of the means of production, it is not the only system that allows a market economy, socialism also has a market economy. But under capitalism the market is really not free as the means to produce resources for the market are privately owned, which means a very small minority of people control the resources and the market, which means it is not free unless you earn your living from your capital assets rather than your labour.

Capitalism keeps resources artificially scarce in order to keep market prices as high as possible, and YES this does effect things like our fire services. When profit (the income of capitalists) can not be made the first thing that always suffers is community services. Capitalist markets are rigged markets, controlled by the few at the expense of the many.

The big mistake people keep making is thinking capitalism means money and markets when it doesn't. This is also the mistake anarcho-capitalists make, thinking it means money when it really means private ownership of the means of production, which is the real problem.

Capitalism can be totalitarian and in some countries it is. Private ownership of the means of production does not grantee freedom for anyone.