Non-libertarian Linear Thinking

If you look at mainstream criticism of most issues, there is a lot of very linear thinking in the process which does not take into account the real complex nature of the world. Headlines and news stories often do not take into account these complexities and either explicitly state their linear thinking or imply it. Examples might include:

 

-          There is currently only a handful of regulations when it comes to the production of orange juice. No national agency is in charge of verifying the contents of each carton of juice. Companies could place any number of products in their juice and still call it orange juice including water, apple juice, flour, even insects!

 

-          Amazingly car companies have few regulations when it comes to fuel economy. Most cars achieve 30 miles per gallon, however a company could produce a car that only achieves 5 miles per gallon, and this would still be legal. There are currently no laws in the works to make this illegal.

 

-          Bank machines remain completely unregulated. Companies could charge $25 per transaction, even though costs are estimated at between $0.50-$0.75 for the company.

 

-          Without minimum wage, companies could pay as little as $0.01 per hour to employees. In fact, many fear removing the minimum wage law would create a handful of super-billionaires who live in a world of total abject poverty.

 

Most of the time, these articles don’t even bother to mention the possible consequences of a lack of regulation or laws, etc. They just state it as obvious. For example, they will just say “this industry is completely unregulated”, implying that because there isn’t some magical level of regulation, the industry will create negative outcomes. Basically this is called begging the question – taking for granted a hypothesis that should be first proven.

 

The problem with the above assertions is that they are taken for granted without considering other effects. For instance, competition. In a competitive market, an orange juice company could put one drop of juice in a carton of water and call it juice, but then Tropicana will come along with a much better juice and everyone will buy it instead.

 

Same goes for bank machines. People have choices, they can choose to go elsewhere if the price is too high. If ATMs all charged $10, people would just go to their own bank to get money.

 

The theory about a low minimum wage is easily demonstrated to be false by the fact that 90% of workers get above minimum wage. Legally there is nothing stopping companies from giving people more than minimum wage, but it happens anyway. The people who write these articles never ask why this happens. It’s funny how their theory, which exists only in their minds and not in the real world, has more influence on them than what they observe.

 

I guess this is how the “theory” of Marxism can continue to exist despite so much real world evidence that it’s a horrible system.