: : : You posit that 'demand' (consumer demand) motivates the market. This, I believe, does violence to the facts. Example: there is plenty of demand for affordable HEALTH CARE in this country but because PERSONAL COMPUTERS are more profitable to make, supply chases the easier dollar---which, in turn, affects 'demand' overwhelmingly.: : Don: As far as I can tell, the supply of both is more than ample. My father received health care which he couldn't pay for. He got the care he needed, and the hospital absorbed the costs he couldn't pay.
: Thanks for the anecdotes.
Don: I have more, if you want to hear them. On the other hand, I don't know of anyone who failed to recieve needed medical care under our system.
: How about PREVENTIVE health care? Are hospitals absorbing those costs, too?
Don: It seems to me that preventative health care is mostly a matter of life style choices. What services in the way of preventative medicine do you want provided?
: : : I refer to competition of production process (which includes labor), advertising, and---especially---access to special privileges and subsidies maintained by the government.
: : Don: The last part I would classify as fascism. A free market doesn't exist when the government starts playing favorites . . .
: Then let us agree that MOST CAPITALISTS (such as Exxon [about to gobble up Mobil] who requires U.S. troops to protect its overseas oil wells) ARE fascists!
Don: I don't quite agree with this. From what I know, most "capitalists" are pragmatic people who are not much interested in free market theory. Some even favor socialism. No doubt, many are more than willing to get along with fascism. Some are indeed fascists. Ted Turner, Donald Trump, Bill Gates and Ross Perot are just a few who have ideas that run counter to the free market. On the other hand, someone who in principle believes in free-markets can't be a fascist by definition.
None.
