🚀 go-pugleaf

  fagin%ji.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU writes:
>
>As for General Motors being perfectly content to produce
>inefficient cars, that's only part of the story.  General Motors
>was perfectly happy to make gas guzzlers because *THE PRICE
>OF GASOLINE WAS CONTROLLED*.  Why should consumers worry
>about fuel economy when gas sells for a quarter a gallon?
>Never mind that prices should reflect the abundance or scarcity
>of a commodity, we've got to protect those big bad institutions
>from raping our poor stupid consumer, right?  I have no
>doubt that the few intelligent policymakers opposed to
>gasoline price controls in the sixties and seventies were
>shouted down by well-meaning people with your beliefs, Rich,
>who simply didn't understand how free markets work, or how
>important they are.

When was the price of gasoline controlled?  Sure, the price of
American oil was controlled until the late 70's/early 80's, but that
didn't stop OPEC from quadrupling the price in 1973 or doubling it
again in 1979.
 
>Contrast this with the Japanese.  While we were living in
>our fantasy world of cheap, controlled gasoline, they were
>paying a buck a gallon.  While it's true that gasoline is
>in general more expensive in Japan because they import all
>their oil, the fact remains that they knew just how much
>gasoline was worth, and the consumer (who's not as dopey
>as you think) wanted the most fuel-efficient car he could
>get.  Moral: if you're really interested in getting the
>right things produced, Rich, you ought to let the market
>work.

I don't know about Japan, but gasoline is so expensive in Europe
because the government imposes high taxes on it.  I agree that
the market can solve many problems; OPEC certainly learned that
after its high prices made it economical for non-OPEC nations
to drill for oil.
  
>> -The freedom to drink clean water: There are unsolved serious 
>> problems with public water supplies all over the country -- hence 
>> the growth in popularity of bottled water.  The amount of inorganic
>> garbage our society generates, and ultimately dumps in landfills, 
>> contributes directly to this problem.
>Quite true.  *Public* drinking water has problems precisely because 
>it is *public*; it belongs to everybody, so it belongs to nobody.  
>Water supplies that are privately own can be protected from pollution
>through the tort system.  The same with landfills; land that noone 
>has an incentive to preserve won't be preserved.  Isn't it 
>interesting, Rich, that the institutional problems you point out all
>have to do with the absence of private property rights: public 
>drinking water, public air, public landfills?

A great many of the toxic waste dumps that are leaking into the
groundwater system are on private property.  Companies such as
Aerojet General and Fairchild just bury drums full of waste
on their own property to avoid the expense of sending it to an
approved landfill.  Are they exercising their private property rights?
>
>--Barry


-- 
 Craig Anderson
 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
 (408) 749-3007
 UUCP: {ucbvax,decwrl,ihnp4,allegra,intelca}!amdcad!csanders
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