Individualism Is Stupid ( Or Why Libertarianism And Objectivism Is Stupid)

[vulcanlogician]

there's no such thing as an invisible hand or a free market...so if that's what people take "some parts of capitalism work" to mean, then they're just flat out wrong.

I must admit that my knowledge of economics is rather primitive. I should probably read Wealth of Nations or some other works so that I am more prepared for discussions like this. What I was referring to in terms of self-correction was those graphs which showed supply/demand ratios (a foggy memory from economics 101). To me this demonstrates that capitalism assigns value to those things which consumers desire (like the "luxuries" I mentioned above) but only when those things are in short supply (ie more of those things need to be produced). Anyway, I don't want to belabor the point as I certainly agree that the supply/demand model is problematic.

Here a favorite example of mine, it happens all over appalachia at present.

Yeah, this one hit close to home... literally. I live in Appalachia, and this very thing happened in my hometown. The county gov't attracted a number of corporations (Bausch and Lomb being the most notable) to set up factories in my hometown. Eventually, the public coffers were drained and the county could no longer afford to offer the incentives. The minute this happened, Bausch and Lomb and others packed up and left, flooding the area with unemployed workers. So I know first hand the perils of supply-side economics.