> The "free market" has never existed and never will
The free market has existed in the US since its inception, excluding the slave south.
> Capitalism brought us children working in mines 6 days a week, company towns, and extreme poverty world wide
Free markets brought the world out of poverty. Perhaps you thought medieval children did not work?
> lifted billions out of poverty with governmental spending on health and safety
In the US that all happened before government spending on that. The US poverty rate is the same it was in 1968, the inception of the Great Society programs. It had been steadily declining before then.
> I don't know how/where you made up 150 million people starving
Communist countries. More to the point, every organization that has tried collective farms has failed to feed itself.
>The free market has existed in the US since its inception, excluding the slave south.
Not true in the slightest. The US Customs Service was created four months after the constitution was ratified, therefore regulating what goods can be imported and making imported goods more expensive than domestic goods. The US has had a highly regulated economy since inception.
>Free markets brought the world out of poverty. Perhaps you thought medieval children did not work?
You just stated your opinion again? The free market doesn't actually exist and governmental organizations brought people out of poverty.
>In the US that all happened before government spending on that. The US poverty rate is the same it was in 1968, the inception of the Great Society programs. It had been steadily declining before then
Oh lordy, there is so much that you don't understand. Medicare and Social Security alone keep millions of seniors from dying homeless on the street every year.
>Communist countries. More to the point, every organization that has tried collective farms has failed to feed itself.
I understand WHY the number was made up. I'm asking for a citation for that number because it sounds like nonsense.
Nobody said it was a "perfect" free market. Nothing human is perfect. It was a decent approximation to one, thought.
Check out "The Black Book of Communism".
> Medicare and Social Security alone keep millions of seniors from dying homeless on the street every year
Somehow that didn't seem to have any effect on life expectancy or poverty statistics.
> governmental organizations brought people out of poverty
Do you really think that the enormous movement in the 19th century US of people out of poverty into the middle class came from government wealth transfer programs? Or do you think that the US population consisted of wealthy people who immigrated from Europe?
>Nobody said it was a "perfect" free market. Nothing human is perfect. It was a decent approximation to one, thought.
What are you talking about. Do you know the definition of 'free market'?
"an economic system in which prices are determined by *unrestricted* competition between privately owned businesses."
The United States is not, and never has been, a free market economy. Using 'perfect' and 'imperfect' is you simply trying to bend a definition to support an argument you want to make. The US market has always been highly regulated.
>Somehow that didn't seem to have any effect on life expectancy or poverty statistics.
Ah, so you're just throwing reality all the way out the window then?
>Do you really think that the enormous movement in the 19th century US of people out of poverty into the middle class came from government wealth transfer programs?
Why are you talking about wealth transfer programs? What are you talking about?
Your knowledge on this subject seems to be realllly skewed towards what someone who consumes a lot of right-wing media content would think. I encourage you to do some actual reading on the subject.
>Describe what you consider as "highly regulated".
The United States economy. We have trade regulations, license regulations,import and export regulations, we have standards regulations. You know, lots of restrictions on trade.
>You brought up Medicare and Social Security.
Neither of those programs are 'wealth transfer' programs.
> We have trade regulations, license regulations,import and export regulations, we have standards regulations. You know, lots of restrictions on trade.
That isn't what "highly" regulated is. Things start getting highly regulated when the government sets what prices you can charge, who you are allowed to do business with, etc.
For example, I'm in the software business. There aren't any regulations on it.
> Neither of those programs are 'wealth transfer' programs.
That's exactly what they are. SS tax receipts, for example, go directly to recipients.
> Oh really
Shocked, are you? I wouldn't want to burst your illusions. Imagine what you want.
>Things start getting highly regulated when the government sets what prices you can charge, who you are allowed to do business with, etc.
Oh! It's so convenient that the definition of 'highly regulated' for you fits perfectly into your world view. Those hundreds of thousands of pages of laws that govern trade and the tens of thousands of enforcement officials must just be my imaginiation
>For example, I'm in the software business. There aren't any regulations on it.
Your definition of regulation is different than the actual definition of regulation.
You already got your understanding of the German economy corrected by others. I think you almost certainly are a great example of someone who is a SME in one area which makes you think you are a SME in other areas, when you actually aren't.
Social Security and Medicare aren't wealth transfer programs. The United States has tons of regulations and central economic planning. Your ignorance of those facts is a deficit on your part that you can easily rectify.
Oh what the heck. I have a book for you, "Titan" by Chernow. You'll like it because Chernow tries to paint all the left wing tropes on Rockefeller. Unfortunately, his narrative facts contradict his conclusions.
After you've read it, come back and enlighten me on how "highly regulated" the oil business was in Rockefeller's days.
Another gem is "Nothing Like It In The World" by Ambrose. Ambrose also approached the topic with the usual left-wing bias, but his research completely upended his narrative. Unlike Chernow, he wrote a nice mea culpa about his transformation engendered by the facts.
"Empire of the Summer Moon" is another one that will challenge your point of view.
The free market has existed in the US since its inception, excluding the slave south.
> Capitalism brought us children working in mines 6 days a week, company towns, and extreme poverty world wide
Free markets brought the world out of poverty. Perhaps you thought medieval children did not work?
> lifted billions out of poverty with governmental spending on health and safety
In the US that all happened before government spending on that. The US poverty rate is the same it was in 1968, the inception of the Great Society programs. It had been steadily declining before then.
> I don't know how/where you made up 150 million people starving
Communist countries. More to the point, every organization that has tried collective farms has failed to feed itself.