THIS MAY TAKE A WHILE.......

I have written in the past about Milton Friedman and the right wing desire to end all government regulations. The idea is the free market is the best judge, and the business should be left alone. The market will take care of its self. I can’t understand why we continue to have this argument when we have seen in the past the complete folly of these ideas. The current banking crisis is just another in a long line of examples demonstrating the reality that business going unregulated is like a 4 year old playing with matches. When will we stop being surprised when the house burns down?
I need to make you understand why the market unregulated is a lost cause, with no hope of success. I can’t emphasize enough that you as a citizen of the must understand the underlying ideology for the desire for deregulation and the and how it can affect you. Understanding the true nature of the neo-capitalist free market ideology towards regulation will show you not only why it’s argued for so strongly, but why it fails and how its failure can leave you casualty in a holy crusade in which you have no stake.
To start to understand free market ideology one must turn to the divine. Many who adhere to the free market concepts come from a wide variety of backgrounds. It would seem that the beliefs in the free market are purely secular. But this is false. To fully understand Friedman capitalism you must look through the filter of spirituality. It doesn’t matter if he be Jew or Gentile, atheist or true believer, those who march under the banner of the “free market” all have but one god, the almighty dollar. Once you put things into this context one can start to understand. To the Christian faith, belief in Jesus Christ is everything. To the Jew, the Law of Moses guides every aspect of their lives. To the capitalist it is profit, pure and simple.
I want to make myself clear. I am not anti-capitalism. I don’t think socialism has all the answers. Like most arm chair economorons I have more questions than answers. But I have been around enough and have worked for enough Fortune 500 companies to know one thing for sure, BUSINESS WILL NEVER SELF REGULATE! At least not in a way that takes you or I or the environment into consideration.
When the Almighty Dollar says “Bring me a rainforest!” it must be appeased, and a rainforest will be felled. When it says “Let acid fall from the sky!” that will be done. When the Dollar asks for a human sacrifice, it will be given one. All one has to do is look at recent events in the news to see the great Almighty Dollars workings. 4 die from salmonella poisoning from peanut products. E-coli in ground beef and in salsa of all things. Poison in dog and cat food. Drywall in new homes making people sick. Few days go by without a new headline. I know what some will say, “These are accidents, people make mistakes.” Don’t believe it! It’s not rocket science! We know how to process peanuts to make them safe. Ford could have made a Pinto with a safe gas tank. We know how e-coli gets into beef, and how to prevent it.
In a perfect world businesses would do the right thing and make their products safe. Since the industrial revolution we stop being an agrarian society living on our own farms making our own food, we have needed the regulation of the government to keep us safe. From the meat packing industry made famous in Upton Sinclair’s Jungle, to the regulation of patented medicines, only the governmental regulation has stopped the unscrupulous from killing us. I know! That’s not human sacrifice! But tell me. What is the difference between some ancient high priest sacrificing a member of the tribe and a c.e.o. pushing production “through puts", knowing that doing so will make more money but the food less safe? The tribal leader my truly believe that the human sacrifice will bring his people good fortune. The c.e.o . believes that increasing production with fewer people will bring the company good fortune.
This is a country where everyone may worship as they want. And I find no problem with those who choose to pursue financial gain at any level. But we don’t allow the faithful to do anything they want. We don’t allow churches to break the law just because their religion says it’s ok to. We don’t allow the zealot of any religion to kill because their god tells them to. Why would you allow those who love money to do whatever they what in the name of their god? Allowing business to self regulate is as smart as following Jim Jones to Guyana.