Sunday is a good day for debating on the internet... So, here's what is probably an unpopular thesis, but one I believe is true: Libertarianism is a convenient fantasy but nothing more.
Libertarians somehow believe that "free markets" and "regulation" are antonyms, as if the market is something other than a regulatory creation. Think: Would a free market exist without the force of government backing contractual obligations? (I'll exempt the anarchist libertarians here, who lack this willful ignorance, although their vision is hopelessly rose-tinted.) What about regulations on activities like insider trading, or lying on balance sheets?
The fact is that, just like in so many other things, individual self-interest is often at odds with the continued existence of any shared enterprise, including the free market itself. Without regulation to create and sustain it, the market wouldn't even exist.
So the question is really that of "which regulations" rather than "no regulation"; libertarians conveniently pretend otherwise, forcefully claim an absolutist moral high ground, and in doing so badly distort policy debates and decisions.
(Even if we buy what anarchist-libertarians are selling, their vision is essentially yet another utopia and like all utopias, there is no clear path 'there' from 'here'.)
Libertarians somehow believe that "free markets" and "regulation" are antonyms, as if the market is something other than a regulatory creation. Think: Would a free market exist without the force of government backing contractual obligations? (I'll exempt the anarchist libertarians here, who lack this willful ignorance, although their vision is hopelessly rose-tinted.) What about regulations on activities like insider trading, or lying on balance sheets?
The fact is that, just like in so many other things, individual self-interest is often at odds with the continued existence of any shared enterprise, including the free market itself. Without regulation to create and sustain it, the market wouldn't even exist.
So the question is really that of "which regulations" rather than "no regulation"; libertarians conveniently pretend otherwise, forcefully claim an absolutist moral high ground, and in doing so badly distort policy debates and decisions.
(Even if we buy what anarchist-libertarians are selling, their vision is essentially yet another utopia and like all utopias, there is no clear path 'there' from 'here'.)