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From: prudence@trw-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: A Response to Jeff Myers Note
Message-ID: <207@trw-unix.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 23-May-83 10:42:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: trw-unix.207
Posted: Mon May 23 10:42:27 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 27-May-83 02:18:12 EDT
References: uwvax.887
Lines: 36

Jeff Myers recently posted a note to this newsgroup in which he makes two
points:  1)  Government-run business do poorly because the government only
nationalizes business which are tottering in the first place, and 2)  The
Soviet Union trails us because of the damage they sustained in WWII and
because they started from a lower base.

Point 1:  This is valid, governments frequently use the ill health of an
industry as an excuse for nationalization, however, the effect of such a
move is usually to make the business even weaker.  As a counter-example,
look at the package delivery business.  The U.S. Post Office abandoned
the package delivery side of the mail because it was losing so much money.
Congress repealed the Post Office monopoly on package delivery, and as a
result, firms like Emory and REA have stepped in, providing excellent
service at a low price.  This is typical, because the government has never
been capable of running a profitable operation.  The single example Mr.
Myers offered, Renault, is a rare exception.  Newsweek reported that the
reason Renault does so well is because of minimal government interference.

Point 2:  While it is true that the USSR suffered during WWII, Germany and
Japan both suffered more, yet the free market has allowed entrepeneurs to
rebuild the countries.  The stifling Soviet bureaucracy has prevented this
mechanism from working.  Let us also dispell the notion that the Soviet
Union was some sort of primitive backwater at the time of the Revolution.
In 1910, the USSR was the fifth largest industrial nation in the world
and a net exporter of food.  Communism has had such a crippling effect
on a naturally productive nation that countries as devoid of resources
as Switzerland have long surpassed them.

Let me end with a lesson from history.  Laissez-faire capitalism is the
only form of economy in history that has coincided with freedom and
prosperity.  The unending cycle of stagflation and recession that we
have been suffering for nearly 20 years is a direct result of having
abandoned such an economy.

				Prudence
				ucbvax!trw-unix!prudence