Free Market

Dear Editor, In the West we refer to our economic system as a free market system. Any economic policy the United States government ensues, the free market is the automatic default candidate for any blame. This is not only an inaccurate analysis; it is a straw man argument that is a gross misrepresentation of any true free market system. Let me be the first to say that what we have seen during the time periods of acclaimed free market capitalism hasn’t been free market capitalism at all, but rather state-sponsored capitalism.

I've been wondering recently if we still remember what it means to have a free market. We talk about the free market all of the time: we call the United States a capitalist country; we chant vociferously that the free market is an integral part of our democracy; and we label anything that we think threatens that free market as "socialist," a term we believe represents the antithesis of free-market capitalism. But what exactly does it mean to have a free market? When corporations paid lobbyists to push the government to deregulate the financial market, was that free-market economics?

Dear Editor, Bailouts after bailouts, stimulus packages, one after another, virtually no interest rates, and that's not even the end of it. When will we see the end of the unconstitutional and down right pathetic attempts to try and "fix" the economy? Desperate efforts have been made to stop the crash of our dollar, yet it has gone down 10 percent in two weeks, and is likely to drop another 10 percent in the next two weeks. While the dollar is declining, foreign currencies are up, and the price of gold has gone up an astonishing 20 percent in 2 weeks.

Dear Editor, First, I would like to thank Daniel Fulton for his appellation in his Aug. 6 letter. To be called "Palinesque" is an honor! Leftists always seem to demand exhaustive evidence before they will even consider a conservative view, and, hypocritically, will refuse to apply the same requirement to their own arguments before proclaiming them. It is interesting that Mr. Fulton doesn't use any statistical evidence to prove his point. Why the double-standard? Because liberal/Marxists cannot compete in the free market of ideas.

Dear Editor, Global warming — real or not real? The number that think it is not real is growing, and there are many reasons. First and foremost, none of us want to reduce our consumption of anything, much less our driving pleasure. Next comes the “free market believers” who think that our economy will go down even worse if we clean up the air and water and maybe test more of the 80,000 manmade chemicals produced. Politicians are in this group and also fear not being elected if they go “green.

Dear Editor, I’d like to point out that America’s founding was the best possible illustration of the tea party’s ideology in action. The ideas of equality and democracy, at the time, were incredibly revolutionary concepts, and the Founding Fathers undoubtedly raised the bar for moral philosophy, especially compared to their predecessors of dictatorial monarchism. But even with these revolutionary geniuses constructing the rubric of the nation, and even with the tea party’s ideology being at the podium, it was short lived — like a firework finale that turns out to be a dud. My point is to stress that small government isn’t sustainable, any more than a large government is. All governments, in the history of governments, have grown in size to either the point of collapse or the point of totalitarianism.

The fact that more than 35 percent of all Web sites are pornographic is more of a sad commentary on human nature than technology, but also is proof that the Internet is the embodiment of the free market. Last week, the five officials who oversee the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted unanimously for rules that will stop telecommunications giants like AT&T, Verizon and others from blocking legal Internet traffic on their networks, ensuring the continued health of the Internet despite its sometimes unsavory content.

Dear Editor, I was pleased to see someone state very accurately that in today's job market there are no unions needed. The workers themselves can control the way a company treats its employees. They are educated and don't need some official telling them what they need. Union officials too often turned out to be men of questionable character. Not all, but too many of them. I was born and reared in the coal fields, where everything was controlled by the union for the workers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture today reminds tobacco quota holders and producers not currently enrolled in the Tobacco Transition Payment Program (TTPP) that they have until Dec. 2, 2005, to sign-up in order to receive a 2006 TTPP payment. The TTPP, also known as the "tobacco buy-out," provides approximately $10 billion in ten equal installments to eligible tobacco quota holders and producers from 2005 through 2014. Payments for 2006 through 2014 will be issued annually on Jan. 15. Also, USDA reminds tobacco quota holders and producers that they have until Dec. 2, 2005, to sell their remaining nine annual payments to a successor in order to receive a lump-sum payment.

BURGIN -   Dozens of people waited in line Saturday morning for Burgin Christian Church's monthly free farmer's market to officially open. The program, in its fourth year of operation, is always held from 8-10 a.m. on the last Saturday of the month during harvest season, said church pastor Josh Snyder. Anyone can come and get a free hot breakfast as well as fresh produce, baked goods, bedding plants and food bags.  Snyder, who moved to Burgin from Pittsburgh, Pa., less than three months ago, said he was pleased to come to a small church so involved in outreach efforts to the community.

The “Occupy Wall Street” protests are spreading, and they've reached Lexington. Hundreds of people across the country have been gathering in front of banks and financial centers to protest … er, um, something. That's the problem; no one really knows exactly what they are protesting. Even The Associated Press profiled them and came to the conclusion that they don't really know what it is they are angry about - just that they are angry. I stopped by the protest in Lexington on its first day. I talked to four different people, and none of them could articulate exactly what they wanted to see accomplished.

Dear Editor, In the West we refer to our economic system as a free market system. Any economic policy the United States government ensues, the free market is the automatic default candidate for any blame. This is not only an inaccurate analysis; it is a straw man argument that is a gross misrepresentation of any true free market system. Let me be the first to say that what we have seen during the time periods of acclaimed free market capitalism hasn’t been free market capitalism at all, but rather state-sponsored capitalism.

Dear Editor, I’d like to point out that America’s founding was the best possible illustration of the tea party’s ideology in action. The ideas of equality and democracy, at the time, were incredibly revolutionary concepts, and the Founding Fathers undoubtedly raised the bar for moral philosophy, especially compared to their predecessors of dictatorial monarchism. But even with these revolutionary geniuses constructing the rubric of the nation, and even with the tea party’s ideology being at the podium, it was short lived — like a firework finale that turns out to be a dud. My point is to stress that small government isn’t sustainable, any more than a large government is. All governments, in the history of governments, have grown in size to either the point of collapse or the point of totalitarianism.

Dear Editor, Global warming — real or not real? The number that think it is not real is growing, and there are many reasons. First and foremost, none of us want to reduce our consumption of anything, much less our driving pleasure. Next comes the “free market believers” who think that our economy will go down even worse if we clean up the air and water and maybe test more of the 80,000 manmade chemicals produced. Politicians are in this group and also fear not being elected if they go “green.

The fact that more than 35 percent of all Web sites are pornographic is more of a sad commentary on human nature than technology, but also is proof that the Internet is the embodiment of the free market. Last week, the five officials who oversee the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted unanimously for rules that will stop telecommunications giants like AT&T, Verizon and others from blocking legal Internet traffic on their networks, ensuring the continued health of the Internet despite its sometimes unsavory content.

I've been wondering recently if we still remember what it means to have a free market. We talk about the free market all of the time: we call the United States a capitalist country; we chant vociferously that the free market is an integral part of our democracy; and we label anything that we think threatens that free market as "socialist," a term we believe represents the antithesis of free-market capitalism. But what exactly does it mean to have a free market? When corporations paid lobbyists to push the government to deregulate the financial market, was that free-market economics?

Dear Editor, First, I would like to thank Daniel Fulton for his appellation in his Aug. 6 letter. To be called "Palinesque" is an honor! Leftists always seem to demand exhaustive evidence before they will even consider a conservative view, and, hypocritically, will refuse to apply the same requirement to their own arguments before proclaiming them. It is interesting that Mr. Fulton doesn't use any statistical evidence to prove his point. Why the double-standard? Because liberal/Marxists cannot compete in the free market of ideas.

Dear Editor, I was pleased to see someone state very accurately that in today's job market there are no unions needed. The workers themselves can control the way a company treats its employees. They are educated and don't need some official telling them what they need. Union officials too often turned out to be men of questionable character. Not all, but too many of them. I was born and reared in the coal fields, where everything was controlled by the union for the workers.