Craig Haynie <cchayniepub...@gmail.com> wrote:
> There are only two types of economies that have been demonstrated in the > world: An economy which allows people to trade freely; and an economy > which commands all production and distribution. To date, no one has > demonstrated how the latter can replace the former. I disagree. All real world economies are a combination of the two. Hybrids, that is. With some freedom to trade, and some restrictions. For example, few people are allowed to trade in explosive materials, for the practical reasons demonstrated in Tianjin, China, yesterday. There has never been a time in history when trade and commerce were unrestricted by laws, licensing, inspection and so on. For example, the law governing beer purity (Reinheitsgebot) has have been force in Germany since 1487, more or less unchanged. (Although Wikipedia says it was rescinded.) There were extensive laws governing house and barn construction in Pennsylvania in 1750. Builders who did not follow these laws were "run out of town on a rail" according to an expert I know. He really is an expert: he repairs and rebuilds 18th century structures in Pennsylvania. He knows all of the codes from that time, as well as those presently in force. In U.S. history, over the last 200 years, the number of laws and restrictions to trade have been drastically reduced. We are now living in the golden age of unrestricted free market competition, unlike like any previous era. This is contrary to what conservatives believe, but it is true. You have to read a lot of original source history about boring subjects to understand this. For example, in 1800 all along the east coast, hotels were regulated to an extent that would be unthinkable today. The amount of money they could charge every night, the size of the room, and the exact menu of food they had to offer was set out in detail in the laws. In examples, up until the 1960s, lawyers and doctors were not allowed to advertise their services or post their rates; advertisements were not allowed to name their competing products (so they called them "brand X"); rates for trucks, airplanes and taxis were set by law; and established companies has trade groups that more or less banned the entry of competition. Also, the telephone and electric power industry did not allow competition. - Jed
