What's wrong with communism?

[Griff]

Originally posted by hermit22


The problem with pure libertarianism is that there are no checks to halt the explotiation of the hardest working. You also focus entirely on social welfare programs, ignoring the flipside - corporate welfare. Special contracts, tax breaks, lucrative deals, etc. ad infinitum are really no different than the social programs - except that instead of trying to redistribute the wealth more equally, which is the intent of social welfare, these programs attempt to keep the wealth in one place. Which is just as much of a de-motivator (if not more).

Little of that has anything to do with "pure" libertarianism. Corporate welfare, which, arguably, includes the drug subsidy you propose, is not libertarian. What you describe are the natural outcomes of a mixed economy. We intervened for farmers and consumers, destroying the market in agriculture. We intervened for health providers and the sick, destroying Americas health care system (leaving aside Nixons wage and price controls). These interventions cause disruptions, such as the concentration in agriculture, which lead to more political power and more subsidies. In my rural township, we have exactly one remaining dairy farm. He happens to be the single worst farmer in the area, but he knows how to play the gov subsidy game so he continues.

I had a convoluted dream last night that I was able to stick it to subsidized corporate farmer Ted Turner last night, weird.