Here at Public Citizen I find that a lot of our detractors espouse a strong dedication to free-market ideologies. I find that this ideology is used to justify a large amount of otherwise irrational behavior, and that its adherents have an unshakable almost religious-like devotion. I find that many espouse the beliefs with a level of certainty which is typically reserved for obvious truths, despite the fact that many of their claims are unsupported as far as I can tell. I would like to look at what I see as some of the flaws in the claims of free market adherents.
Currently there are no countries in the developed world, including the United States, that use anything remotely resembling the minimalist government model these men espouse. Even our politicians who have advocated returning to a freer form of capitalism have been shown to reject this notion in practice. Ronald Reagan, who spoke of minimizing the federal government and getting off of people’s back, did the exact opposite in practice and was at the time of his presidency the most protectionist and most business beholden president we have ever had. If you doubt that, just read this piece (from an extremely free market source).
Today the world’s fastest growing developing countries, including China, India, the four Asian tigers (South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), and much of Western Europe, all explicitly reject the tenets of minimal government intervention in their economies. The United States has maintained a substantial public sector and as well as a high level of government involvement in research and development of new technology through the military and university systems since the Great Depression. (more…)
