One argument that seems more of an issue in America than here is the big Government versus small Government debate.
The argument goes that the concept of small Government is more effective as it concentrates only on a few, but important, attributes of society and the economy will flourish without government interference.
Those in favour of a big Government argue that it is only government regulation which keeps a tab on the capitalist market and without them, the huge corporations will ride roughshod over society in order to turn a profit.
You only have to look to see how many companies and corporations have been fined for inappropriate behaviour which has been designed to put one over the consumers so the idea that they should be left to their own devices should fill us all with horror. Do we need reminding of the havoc the lightly regulated financial market has inflicted on the global economy?
Wednesday we were given yet another example of why they should be kept on a very tight leash and the advocates of small Government should be rethinking their arguments.
The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osbourne, took 1p off a litre of petrol, effective from 6pm that evening.
Stories soon emerged of petrol stations, aware that the cut was coming, put up their prices by a penny, or more in some cases, and then took it off again at 6pm. Another common rant was the prices going down but not by the full penny.
The AA said: 'One of two of the supermarkets appear to have put prices down but we've also heard that a lot of service stations are selling at the previous day's prices'.
The Government have now pledged to 'watch oil companies like a hawk' to make sure that the 1p a litre is enforced and that is just a tiny example as to why we need a big Government to stop big business ripping us off because if they can get away with it, they will.
4 comments:
Lucy, the problem is that Governments are susceptible to the influence of Corporations because of political donations. America is an example of a nation where business largely controls State and Federal politicians who can be bought.
Even in Australia the big end of town has disproportionate influence over Governments of either leaning.
Corporations and financial institutions are interested in only one thing: profits. They cannot be allowed to run roughshod over a nation or the world but need careful supervision and strict control.
Capitalism is a cancer that is fueled by greed and competition. It works against equality and cooperation which are the prerequisites for peace.
A form of socialism that encourages initiative but punishes greed is probably the best solution.
"A form of socialism that encourages initiative but punishes greed"
Good luck with that!
Eh... George Osborne and Richard Nixon should start a club.
I could think of a hundred better reasons for big government than price ceilings. Price ceilings, insofar as they are "effective" at setting prices below the market level, cause shortages. We've all known this for a while now, kind of like we've known about evolution for a while now (except that we've known about the effects of price ceilings for longer). Any high schooler could demonstrate that price ceilings cause shortages with a pencil, and paper by drawing three lines (a line for supply, a line for demand, and a line for the price ceiling).
So what is the thesis of the argument here? It can't be that we need big government so that it can cause shortages. And since price ceilings necessarily cause shortages, it can't be that we need big government for price ceilings. So what do we need big government for then?
Here are some better arguments for big government.
>We need big government to run schools because there's no money in teaching poor kids.
>We need big government to provide a comprehensive social safety net of health care, unemployment benefits, and retirement so that people who have fallen on hard times don't get thrown out onto the streets.
>We need big government to protect us from foreign corporations who would otherwise destroy domestic industry by dumping cheap goods at below cost on the market.
>We need big government to protect us from businesses who would otherwise sell people shoddy, defective, and dangerous products in an effort to cut costs and increase profits.
But to cap oil prices... that's so 1973...
-Nog
Price ceilings? Capping oil prices? Product shortages? This was about big companies screwing us all when they get the chance.
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