Notable Quote - Ludwig von Mises
This one is for Jorge!
"In the market of a capitalistic society the common man is the sovereign consumer whose buying or abstention from buying ultimately determines what should be produced and in what quantity and quality."
- Ludwig von Mises
(The Anti-Capitalism Mentality, Ludwig von Mises, 1956, p. 1.)
Each person in a capitalistic society, in a truly free market, has the right to trade with another - to his or her benefit, or not. It is the free market, the crowd acting as judge and jury, that decides winners and losers.
I will admit that Government is necessary to ensure some amount "orderliness" in the marketplace - it can and should set some safety standards and ensure the Right to Private Property and the sanctity of contracts.
What people agree to pay, and the terms thereof, should be between the parties. It is when Government decides that it needs to intrude further than the role it should play (to wit: Obama's move to limit our mobility by severely limiting our choice of automobiles starting in the near future to the vision of what HE believes WE should have. He has already started this by artificially raising the price of energy (oil, via taxes) and limiting supply (via where drilling can occur) as well as now determining the cars we can purchase (by his Administration's controlling the factors of production (by controlling GM and Chrysler), and their financing (using the TARP banks to squelch pesky contract bondholders and the financial terms of loans via a government controlled GMAC).
The result - The Statist is in control of one's freedom in these areas instead of the common man acting in his own self-interest.
