Tag: Free Markets

Bill Gates Likes Free Speech (If It Makes Him Money …)

September 25, 2024

by Steve MacDonald

Bill Gates probably recognizes that productive expressions, whether physical, intellectual, or verbal, are the vehicles by which acquiring property is possible. And Bill would undoubtedly argue that he is entitled to that property. But he has a weird (dare I say, global) view of the benefits of free speech – which is essential to that … Read more

Cortez Said No To Amazon, Yes To “Market Of The Sweethearts”

May 15, 2024May 13, 2024

by Ray Cardello

Most American cities and towns are proud of their Open-Air or Farmer’s Markets. They block off city blocks, bring in local vendors and food tents with ethnic offerings and music, and organize these events as community gatherings and social events.

Freebie Markets

November 9, 2023October 7, 2023

by Ian Underwood

There are people (including readers of GraniteGrok) who claim that a school choice program that is funded by taxes is a ‘free market solution’ to the problem of educating children.

Government Imposed “Competition” Harms Competition

August 27, 2023

by Op-Ed

“A fair, open, and competitive marketplace has long been a cornerstone of the American economy, while excessive market concentration threatens basic economic liberties, democratic accountability, and the welfare of workers, farmers, small businesses, startups, and consumers.”

Another Anti-Capitalist Communitarian Cafe Goes Out of Business

July 11, 2023May 17, 2023

by Steve MacDonald

If you didn’t know, I have extensive experience with how razor-thin the margins are in the restaurant business. While the closure of this communitarian cafe is unfortunate, it serves as a reminder of the business risks involved in running a café.

Freedom and the New Hampshire Advantage

July 12, 2021

by Op-Ed

New Hampshire’s six-year run of business tax cuts should have made the state’s corporate income tax rate the second-lowest in New England. But a funny thing happened along the way. New Hampshire was joined by an unexpected rival.

Notable Quote – May I Serve You?

May 29, 2021

by Skip

Capitalism cannot just be summed up as voluntary acts of transaction in which both sides believe they have received the greater value.

Mike Lindell Announces eCommerce Competitor to Amazon – MyStore.com

April 14, 2021

by Steve MacDonald

When Davey Hogg announced that he would challenge Mike Lindell to a pillow fight, we said good for you, more or less. Competition benefits consumers. His tagline could be Make Pillows Cheap Again.

An Equal Piece of a Smaller Pie or More Pie for Everyone?

January 3, 2021January 3, 2021

Life is a bowl of cherries and if we make bad choices we are going to get only the pits. So follow me here. We are going to explain why more pie is better for everyone than less pie.

Defense of Free Markets

December 16, 2020

There has been way too little defense of free markets. There are many ways in which business elevates humanity. Capitalism is based on doing things for others, things others find value in. Innovation and value creation are inherent in free-market capitalism.

Democracy is Tyranny

July 17, 2020

Democracy is tyranny. It was true in ancient Greece and it is true today. America was designed to foster a spirit of freedom. The nation, through the Constitution, as written, promotes enterprise among its people. The U.S. Constitution intends to thwart tyranny from majority rule. America is a free-market society.

The Global Warming “More Snow” or “Less Snow” Paradox

April 10, 2023April 19, 2020

by Steve MacDonald

A few decades back, we were told by ‘experts’ that not long from then (meaning before now), our children would not know snow. Yet another emotional plea to convince us to embrace massive tax hikes and the minimization of our lifestyles.

Democrat Socialism is Greed at the End of a Gun

January 14, 2020January 14, 2020

by Steve MacDonald

No human being is immune to greed. Avarice. Lust (for power). Nor are they immune to what we sometimes refer to as the Seven Deadly sins. It is human nature. The best we can do is find ways to limit it. The founders thought this critical to the matter of government.

Dems Run on Absurd Economic Ideas … Part 3 of 3

August 15, 2019

Leftists fall short in many areas. They are full of big, bold ideas. Ideas, most of which were on display during the last two Democratic 2020 presidential hopeful debates. It’s one thing to have an idea, but another to be able to transform it into reality. Economic reality Most of the big, bold ideas leftists … Read more

Tales from the BudComm – Righting a Wrong on Food Truck Licensure

July 10, 2023June 27, 2019

by Skip

“The people who pay taxes here.”

Or better, Tales from the Selectmen, as last night was a Public Hearing about Chapter 27, “An ordinance regulating outdoor vendors and transient sales,” which covers licensing/permitting fees for food trucks working in Gilford. I originally wrote:

Notable Quote – Ronald Coase and Ning Wang

March 6, 2019

by Skip

Markets provide a platform through which firms compete for both resources and customers. How effectively firms perform these tasks depends primarily on how open the markets are, including the markets for factors and products, and how freely firms can be created and compete with each other. Essentially, firms’ effectiveness depends on how smoothly and quickly … Read more

Quick Thought: Not so much “free market”, eh Tom, when you want others to pay for “weeding your garden”?

September 26, 2018August 25, 2018

by Skip

So, Tom Thomson (son of Gov. Thomson of “low spending yields low taxes” fame) who for years was the honorary chair of AFP-NH which argues for Free Markets, has decided to go the Full Monty and arguing that electric rate payers (that would be you and I) should pay for his timber to be cut (e.g., override the biomass vetoes by Gov Sununu on SB 446 and SB 365 which would promulgate the over $2 Billion overcharges to keep the North Country Biomass subsidies for electrical generation plants that turn crap wood into overpriced electricity). Sure, Free Market until it comes to be “get me some” and have Government continue to institute a undeserved and mandated “tax” on the rest of us:

Tom Thomson, a timberland owner of 2,600 acres and the conservative son of former Gov. Mel Thomson, spoke at the event in favor of overriding the veto. “You have to weed your garden if you want healthy vegetables,” Thomson said. “It’s the same thing with forests.”

Hey, go weed your own dang garden, Tom, and leave my wallet alone. If you have any intellectual honesty at all, stop privatizing your profits and socializing your risk. You can’t find folks to buy your timber? Too bad – that’s the risk of being in business: reward AND failure. To paraphrase the line in your Op-Ed in the Concord Monitor:

Data Point – And it wasn’t Socialism that caused this!

September 26, 2018July 3, 2018

by Skip

“In 1820, 94% of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty. In 1990, 34.8%, and in 2015, just 9.6%.”

…In the last quarter century, more than 1.25 billion people escaped extreme poverty – that equates to over 138,000 people (i.e., 38,000 more than the Parisian crowd that greeted Father Wresinski in 1987) being lifted out of poverty every day. If it takes you five minutes to read this article, another 480 people will have escaped the shackles of extreme of poverty by the time you finish. Progress is awesome. In 1820, only 60 million people didn’t live in extreme poverty. In 2015, 6.6 billion did not.

Failure – a great illustration why Govt should stay out of the marketplace and work only within its constraints

September 26, 2018June 27, 2018

by Skip

Pravda on the Merrimack – that’s what we oft call the Concord Monitor because it almost always advocates for MORE government to solve whatever problem ails us – and here, doubles down when a government policy just isn’t working at all. This time, it is about Government trying to control the marketplace for that common table victual – milk. Simple milk. It’s putting family farms out of business so what does the Fishwrap do? That’s right – doubles down. Notice what its LAST resort happens to be (emphasis mine):

Dairy farms are disappearing, as Taylor told our sister paper, the Valley News, where he once served as managing editor, because a federal program sets the price of milk but does not control the supply. When milk prices drop, farmers add more cows to offset the loss, which then keeps prices down. Milk prices that averaged $24 per hundredweight in 2014 have fallen to $15, less than the cost of production.

Read more

The Real Agents of Change

September 26, 2018May 30, 2013

by Steve MacDonald

Democrats like to promote themselves as change agents. Agents of change. And this makes them hip. Modern. Progressive. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Democrats promote the politicization of everything and by extension the bureaucratization of everything. To them government is the best arbiter of progress. But the process of making government the dispatcher of innovation has exactly the opposite effect. It creates barriers to entry, reduces choices, dries up resources or locks them away, and leaves a few cumbersome behemoths who plod along beside big government, benefiting from their shared monopoly on “progress.”