hey Jed, in france it is not far from what you say of your past ! 8)
2015-08-14 1:49 GMT+02:00 Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com>: > 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 (Although Wikipedia says it was rescinded.)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 > >
