Claremont McKenna vs Pomona

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Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:28:34 +0000

Santino - many good points, but some very flawed arguments.

You cite Japanese, Russian, and other space programs as private successes. But their success is almost completely dependent on technology taken from the Russian and US state funded programs. Without government intervention beginning space exploration, there would be no satellites in the air today. How much would that change the world, with no DirecTV, Sat phones, GPS, and so on? Not necessarily worse, as I’m certain that the pursuit of easy global communication would have received heavy research, but the private sector moves gradually. Only government programs can hemmorage money for years on the basis of hope. Do you really think that India would have launched those satellites if they hadn’t seen the Russian and US programs accomplishment, successes, failures, and so on? I hope not.

There are only a few exceptions to the general trait of the private sector increasing in baby steps, and most of those exceptions require only low entry costs. That is very different than the space race or other governmental intervention policies.

Look at the railroads - we were heavily built up in the industrial north very quickly, but the paths that spread us across the country were government backed. And those railroads allowed our country to grow much quicker.

And your example of licensing as a blockage to the free market is pretty flawed. It is more information provided to the consumer about the product. Laws preventing those without licenses from practicing do obscure market forces. But a properly informed consumer is absolutely necessary to Smith’s capitalistic economy, so those licenses and other regulating forces are not inhibitors. They are what allows the economy to function without tearing itself to pieces.

People are naturally selfish, and Smith counted on that. But they can only be appropriately selfish when accurate information is available. Intelligent choices cause private sector efficiency.

And just because I can’t let it go - you cannot possibly believe that government-backed research is an inhibitor to growth. There are sooooo many examples of tasks that the government is really the only group that could do. The private sector is FANTASTIC at using innovations effectively, and progressing from that point. But look around you - how much of modern life is completely tied to government projects(especially the defense department). Computers, the internet, satellites, the interstate highway system, a highly populated west coast, TV’s, remotes, and on forever. Most metal alloys have come from military research.

The private sector may have done a good job. But I am just fine with the leaps caused by the government.