tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9192922.post7667581510223445711..comments2024-03-26T07:51:43.186+00:00Comments on Mabinogogiblog: Debate: Green vs Free Market IdeologyDocRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903964792092284406noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9192922.post-84332779417829075422012-04-18T10:24:59.505+01:002012-04-18T10:24:59.505+01:00Hi Joe, thanks for commenting.
I think we may be c...Hi Joe, thanks for commenting.<br />I think we may be confused about the term "free market". We greens should have no problem with a market. It is a natural and enjoyable human experience. It is the idea of the FREE market - or more accurately, Free Market Fundamentalism as George Soros puts it, which is the problem. It idealises and absolutises the freedom of the Market as a quasi-mystical Invisible Hand. All that is wrong in any economy stems from inhibition of the freedom of the market. <br /><br />As you will see in the next review of the debate, FMF leads necessarily to AGW denial.<br /><br />The Greens' position should neither a Marxist Command Economy, nor FMF, but a Guided Market - guided to better serve the needs of society and environment. <br /><br />I hope this clarifies the position.<br /><br />Regards<br /><br />RichardDocRichardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08903964792092284406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9192922.post-45488534184125519522012-04-18T08:50:34.197+01:002012-04-18T08:50:34.197+01:00I'm not convinced that Green politics is the o...I'm not convinced that Green politics is the opposite of Free Market politics. I believe in the usefulness of free markets as as well as fairly deep green environmentalism. I think we've forgotten that the broader democratic society can set the terms by which free markets exist. So we can decide which areas of life are open to free market activity; which should be managed by government; and which should be banned altogether. And the free market elements can be controlled by our rules, set up so as to achieve the outcomes that we want.<br />Free markets are not the opposite of government, either - they need government services to survive. You can't have a free market without property law, transport infrastructure, educated, healthy workers and so on. So free markets and democratic government go together; the alternative is feudalism of one flavour or another.Joe Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15831747688674143762noreply@blogger.com