The Importance Of Government Regulation in Capitalism.
A simple example of how government regulation can have a positive effect on the economy.
I live in the best state in the US, the Garden State,New Jersey. In our state it is against the law for a customer to pump his own gasoline at a gas station.A gas station attendant or employee must do that.And this provides us with a simple,modest, yet irrefutable proof that government regulation can have a positive effect in the economy and in the day to day life of citizens.The price of gas in New Jersey is always in the twelve to fifteen states with lowest gasoline prices, and if we were to believe the orthodox and dogmatic doctrines of the Milton Friedman ,tea party,right wing nut talking heads crowd the price of gas in New Jersey should be the highest in the nation.I will explain to you how this is possible .Because this is a state law all participants who want to do business in that particular field must play by the same rules,and the cost and profit margins have to take into account the cost of labor in their business.They could theoretically decide since the cost is higher in this state that they'd rather leave the state and establish themselves in a state where this regulation doesn't exist and therefore they would have a higher profit margin .Why don't they do that?That is where the beauty of the free market comes into play.Because there would always be other operatives that would be willing to fill that void.They would be willing to operate at a lower profit margin because the volume of the sales would make the business still profitable, and due to the competition between the different companies none would want to leave to their competitors a whole territorial section of the market.
The notion that any and all government regulation leads to communism is directed at simpletons.
The capitalist, free market economy finds a way to survive and thrive and adapts to achieve positive economic results , that is why for example you see that almost in every gas station you stop in New Jersey you see what is almost a small mini market, with coffee shop, quick food to go, a clean inside bathroom, and several attendants to man the store which even exceeds the original requirement by the supposedly business hindering law.So as you can see, a government regulation if it is the product of common sense, implemented with the democratic support of a majority of the population can be beneficial even to the would be opposers to the said regulation.
Government is not the enemy, we are the government.
It has gotten really annoying to hear this new breed of pseudo conservatives ranting endlessly about how evil government is, how much better off we would all be if government got out from every activity except the military , and how much the economy would grow if businesses, corporations and individuals would be allowed to operate in a totally unregulated environment ,then every sector of the economy would seek it's own benefit regardless if it would affect any or every other sector negatively, and that wouldn't be capitalism or a free market system ,it would simply be total chaos and anarchy.
