The Free Economy – a dismal myth
January 29, 2016
... Our economy is becoming modeled on NCAA football; mega-millions in business deals are built upon free labor. Those who loosely toss the terms capitalism and socialism ignore our current reality in the global economy. The most populous communist nation is the global engine of capitalism. If you do not believe that I would turn your attention to January stock market performance in 2016 as China’s bubble has burst. Our conservative corporate voices so enamored of the free market eagerly seek engagement with government owned monopolistic pseudo capitalists. Chinese economic capitalism is crony capitalism, but much of the conservative free market enthusiasts are actually promoting the same economic system in the United States, right here in the free world as we used to say. Every American is a socialist; we want government when it serves us. Our economic system is so manipulated to favor corporate interests the free market of individual capitalism no longer exists. The concept of free has pervaded not only government it has taken over our economy. Free shipping, free installation, free interest, and free trials are so common we expect free perks. We do not expect to pay the full costs. No local project is done without looking for a grant from the federal government because it seems like free money. Local governments give in to corporate investment thinking tax breaks are free. Corporate business destroys local ownership and profits flow outside the community to a few elites. Corporations offer public relations efforts and their charity promotions are viewed as free gifts. This culture of free was not the one I learned from my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents the lessons they taught were nothing is free. Things are earned and earned things have value. What is earned, what has value, will last.
Alabama Coach Nick Saban makes $7,000.000 his players lucky to get a degree.
The belief in free undermines the security and usefulness of the Internet. The Internet is truly the nervous system of our human society. Our nation should realize one part of the nervous system infected by attack or disease affects the health of the whole system. We are targets of spyware and click bait ads. Broadband is not a government priority there is no systemic build out of fiber optic. Local municipalities ought to run and profit from information networks like utilities are for water (not like Flint though). A fair distribution of cost and value cannot be based on the user being the product. A discussion of micro-taxes on data usage or fees would be attacked in all sorts of ways, but our data, security, privacy, and money are taken now in ways that cost us far more. Corporations themselves would greatly benefit from our government protecting us from piracy and attacks on their servers. Our government should actively defend us and our corporations from cyber attacks. Cyber attacks are more of a threat than immigrant families fleeing for their lives. We cannot allow all technical discussions of implementation to be sidelined by the false promise of free. It concerns me how much we rely on foreign manufacture of electronic components that contain firmware running so much of our infrastructure and defense systems. Politicians rail at these foreign adversaries, yet promote business deals that embed these adversaries in our essential systems in the name of free trade.
Powerful governments in the new information wars
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