May 8, 2012 -- 9:22PM, Bodean wrote:

That's not true at all Amcoph.

I know of no conservative who does not approve of Government "oversight" with regards to quality, protection of the public, and preventing Anti Trust issues, which actually work against free markets.

You mentioned the evil mega corps ... and just WHO do you think they use to protect their status and quell competition?? .... yep ... their pals in GOVERNMENT.  Cental Planning.

Free Markets does not mean that you go back to the days of snake oil.  It just means that they operate on pure principles, and without the hindrance of government fees and hurdles that actually hinder the "little guy".  Without Government "Laws" that have handed over the right of opportunity to "professional organizaitons" that work to fix wages and prices by controlling the supply and demand [ex, AMA, BAR, etc].

All of this is associated with Central Planning.  It doesn't matter if you are the "best" there ever was at your trade ... if you don't have the liscense to operate by the authority that is beholden to the established "Insiders" ... then you can't practice your trade.

What happened is not difficult to explain. As some immigrants settled in the U.S., they began to form businesses that eventually grew due to capitalism and not central planning. These busineses became corporations in powerful industries in railroads, commodities, etc. Not surprisingly, several opened or became partners with financiers that formed banks, which in turn became the large banking corporations we see today.

Again, not surprisingly, as industrialists began to take control of the economy, their counterparts in finance soon took control of the money supply. Government allowed such in return for more tax revenues and support for its growing military, and households in return for factory work and credit needed to buy more consumer goods.

Soon, all of them began to use each other. Corporations wanted deregulation and that's what they got, leading to incredible profits earned through financial speculation plus tax cuts. Government in turn received support from them to strengthen the military, which together with foreign policies would be used to control resources in other countries or encourage cheap labor and resources, both of which were needed to fuel increased consumer spending. As long as citizens got their nice service industry jobs, high income, and easy credit plus tax cuts to purchase a middle class lifestyle, then they would continue voting for government officials that supported big business.

The key point to consider is that all of them--households, government, corporations--were borrowing and spending heavily for one reason or another, and that they all thought that this would go one indefinitely as long as the dollar was considered important by the rest of the world. But continuous debt is not sustainable, and what we are seeing is the result of that.

Thus, there was no "central planning" or "socialism" involved, just the results of free market capitalism.