In Praise of the Free Market

authordefault
on

The Kennedyโ€™s didnโ€™t get powerful without first getting rich, so youโ€™d expect Robert F. to be aย capitalist:

โ€œI want to say this: There is no stronger advocate for free-market capitalism than myself. I believe that the free market is the most efficient and democratic way to distribute the goods of the land, and that the best thing that could happen to the environment is if we had true free-market capitalism in this country, because the free market promotes efficiency, and efficiency means the elimination of waste, and pollution of course is waste. The free market also would encourage us to properly value our natural resources, and itโ€™s the undervaluation of those resources that causes us to use them wastefully. But in a true free-market economy, you canโ€™t make yourself rich without making your neighbors rich and without enriching your community.

โ€œBut what polluters do is they make themselves rich by making everybody else poor. They raise standards of living for themselves by lowering the quality of life for everybody else, and they do that by evading the discipline of the free market. You show me a polluter; Iโ€™ll show you a subsidy. Iโ€™ll show you a fat cat using political clout to escape the discipline of the free market and to force the public to pay his production costs. Thatโ€™s what all pollution is. Itโ€™s always a subsidy. Itโ€™s always a guy trying to cheat the free market.โ€

Related Posts

on

Industry giants have been accused of โ€˜enriching shareholdersโ€™ while โ€˜farmers and consumers pay the priceโ€™.

Industry giants have been accused of โ€˜enriching shareholdersโ€™ while โ€˜farmers and consumers pay the priceโ€™.
on

Nigel Farageโ€™s anti-climate party has received two thirds of its income from oil investors.

Nigel Farageโ€™s anti-climate party has received two thirds of its income from oil investors.
on

You might not have heard of them, but a new analysis shows these ad execs have overseen $1.5 billion worth of fossil fuel ads in the U.S. since the Paris Agreement.

You might not have heard of them, but a new analysis shows these ad execs have overseen $1.5 billion worth of fossil fuel ads in the U.S. since the Paris Agreement.
on

DeSmog analysis reveals London-based WPP linked to twiceย as much oil advertising as American rivalsย despite its internal climate policy.

DeSmog analysis reveals London-based WPP linked to twiceย as much oil advertising as American rivalsย despite its internal climate policy.