Free market makes a lot of sense

By Benjamin Cashner

By now it's well-known that President Obama's “manufacturing czar,” Ron Bloom, raised a few eyebrows when he stated that “the free market is nonsense.” If the waning months of the Bush administration are any indication, the leaders of both major parties now basically share this philosophy. That's a pity.

Our “nonsensical” free (though increasingly regulated) market has given the U.S. one of the highest standards of living in the world.

Even our poor people could have it much worse. According to the Heritage Foundation, of poor households: 46 percent own their own homes, 76 percent have air conditioning, nearly 75 percent own a vehicle (30 percent own two), 97 percent own a color television, 62 percent have cable or satellite television; 89 percent of poor families say they have enough to eat, while only 2 percent say they “often” do not have enough to eat. Imperfect, but not bad.

If we don't have a free-market economy, then we have a command economy wherein government regulators control wages, prices and production rates. (Sure, it's a sliding scale between the two, but an administration that views one end as “nonsense” will obviously only let us slide one way.)

When I was young, the Soviet Union was the ultimate embodiment of a command economy.

I spent some time there in the summer of 1991 as a student ambassador. My three weeks there don't make me an expert on all things Soviet, but it was eye-opening for a 16-year-old Iowa farm boy.

I saw the blocks-long lines of people waiting for bread and other necessities. I toured the GUM department store in Moscow. We were told it was the largest department store in the world. Its shelves were bare.

Somewhere I got a small toy Soviet army tank. The price was stamped right into the steel bottom of it at the time of manufacture. (I forget the price; let's say two rubles.) That price, as well as the number to be produced, presumably, had been set by some panel of government planners.

What would the price have been if the toy tank had become the “must-have” toy for Russian kids, with demand quickly outstripping production? Two rubles, get in line! And if Russian kids hated the new toy? Then they would gather dust on store shelves, available for the low, low price of ... two rubles.

It's easy to see that a market system based upon the decisions of bureaucrats quickly becomes a system based upon no logic at all.

Benjamin Cashner, a freelance writer from Monticello, served in the Iowa Army National Guard and is a member of the Iowa Libertarian Party. He blogs at

http://coldhard

cashner.blogspot.com