Why does it have to be government vs market?

[CapnAwesome]

I think I'll take a centrist position. To much of all one thing leads to problems. The balancing act may be difficult, but preferred.

100% agree. You obviously need a balance. It's just a matter of finding where that balance lies. Too much regulation actually favors these giant corporations, as they are the only ones who can afford the lawyers and whatever else you need to comply. That's a truth that left wing people often seem to miss. Hyper regulation favors corporations over small business, who just can't afford to comply.

Too little and you have chaos, over competition and just plain stupid shit like a different cell phone charger for every phone. That's where hardcore libertarians miss the mark completely. There are so many market failures where regulation helps. Often times these libertarians will start out a sentence "so imagine everybody is behaving rationally with their own self interest. " I can't even imagine one person behaving rationally! If your system needs human beings to act like they don't actually behave (communism and libertarianism share this trait actually) then it just isn't going to work. Also the environmental concerns, obviously.

I consider myself a pragmatic libertarian. People should have the maximum amount of freedom while we have enough regulation to protect the environment, health and safety of the population. And regulation to protect consumers from their own poor decisions, ie the subprime mortgage crisis.