Please tell me why anyone who believes in free markets should vote for that man after reading crap like this:
Speaking on Wall Street last night, Senator McCain of Arizona sounded more like an economic populist than a proponent of the kind of unbridled free-market capitalism promoted by many who work on the trading floors nearby.
(…)
“I believe there needs to be a thorough and complete investigation of speculators to find out whether speculation has been going on and, if so, how much it has affected the price of a barrel of oil,” Mr. McCain said in response to an audience member’s complaint about investors driving up the price of fuel and other commodities. “There’s a lot of things out there that need a lot more transparency and, consequently, oversight.”
(…)
“I am very angry, frankly, at the oil companies not only because of the obscene profits they’ve made but at their failure to invest in alternate energy to help us eliminate our dependence on foreign oil,” the senator said. “They’re making huge profits and that happens, but not to say, ‘We’re in this so we can over time eliminate America’s dependence on foreign oil,’ I think is an abrogation of their responsibilities as citizens.”
I think I finally figured out the only way the 2008 Election can make sense.
A unity ticket between Barack Obama and John McCain. Because, quite frankly, they agree a heck of a lot more than they disagree.
H/T: QandO
June 13th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
McCain is third generation Naval Officer. Government is good from his perspective.
His only link to capitalism is marrying the daughter of a successful capitalist and entrepreneurship with that Keating savings and loan stuff.
He went from Naval career to political career. He admits he knows nothing about economics – hasn’t studied it.
He needs advisers like Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams – and he needs to listen to them.
June 13th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
He won’t hire Sowell or Williams and he wouldn’t listen to them if he did.
He’s lost.
June 13th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Most “free market” advocates don’t really want free markets; they want cheap goods, while keeping their own, well paid jobs here in America.
Free market theory, like Communism, sounds good as an academic point of discussion, but in practice, thee theories both result in the enslavement of the American worker.
If you really want free markets, then get ready to live on three dollars a day like your third world competitor.
Another problem with the free market approach is that there is no compensation on the American side of the trade equation for countries that employ slave labor, like China, or countries that have zero costs due to environmental controls.
What is happening to gas prices, I suspect, is exactly what ENRON did to electricity. When we discover who the players are and what they are doing to rob our citizens, then I hope they are appropriately punished.
I had a serious discussion with some senior citizens at a Hanover, Virginia retirement village on Wednesday. They live in a remote area, without a bus line and have one grocery store. These folks have cut out all forms of travel, attendance at social functions and have resorted to not using their air conditioning, even on ninety degree days, yet they still are in the deficit spending mode. Some are going to be forced to sell their tiny retirement villas and move in with relatives in the coming months, while others are just going to walk away from their mortgages. Some may just take poison and die.
Free market theory will do nothing for these and the rest of our citizens. We are not in a free market, especially with respect to energy. Giving even more power to the oligopolies to push prices even higher, is what a hands-off, free market approach would do to us.
June 13th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Tyler,
All I can say is that if voices like yours represent the future of the GOP, then it might as well fold up it’s tend and surrender tomorrow.
June 13th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
“If you really want free markets, then get ready to live on three dollars a day like your third world competitor.”
Tyler,
May I suggest a great book for you:
How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold History of Our Country, from the Pilgrims to the Present (Hardcover)
http://www.amazon.com/How-Capitalism-Saved-America-Pilgrims/dp/0761525262
You may also want to check out Henry Hazlitt’s “Economics in One Lesson,” and F.A. Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom.”
June 13th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Brian,
And to that I’d add
– Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose by Milton Friedman
– Anything by Walter Williams
– A subscription to Reason Magazine.