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I love dropping logic on people who hate on taxes. In free-market “utopia,” the roads would be owned by a business-with a profit motive. And therefore using roads would be more expensive than in the way we currently pay for them. Because a profit margin would be added. “But Lou,
competition and market forces would drive the cost of roads down because supply and demand would harmonize!” Except no. Because land is finite, so you can’t have 80 competing private roads to one person’s house. Also: see the positive impact on economic growth of the TAX-FUNDED
interstate highway system and call me in the morning. economist.com/briefing/2008/…
“But Lou the MARKET IS WISE” um no. People are irrational and some people are corrupt. Free markets with no guardrails or regulatory guidance = lord of the flies writ large.
AHEM.
People who insist “the market will fix everything” forget that people are inherently irrational and therefore markets will never be perfect. Ever.
And before y’all start calling me a socialist, lemme remind you: I believe in capitalism. I retired from Wall Street at 32 thanks to capitalism. I’m a fan! But I also believe that everyone needs to play by agreed upon rules that disallow cheating.
And most people agree that those rules must be enforced. It’s why this is so extremely delicious for so many people: wsj.com/articles/the-y…
Also...one way to look at it is that the market is kinda why we have the government institutions we have, so destroying them is going against what the market wanted. #LogicHowDoesItWorkIDontKnowIStudiedEconNotPhilosophy
Ps go read Piketty, then let’s chat some more, #okBye 
Oh read this too to learn about what capitalism without guardrails looks like #okbyetimeforPelotonbebacksoon
