Jim Phillips wrote:
> Truer words were never written.  Can anyone name one industry which the
> government (anyone's, not just the USofA) has meddled in, and the
> industry is better off for it?

I would generally agree, however since governments have "meddled" we can't
measure what the difference would have been.  A really good example that stirs
up the emotions for most people is air safety.  Many argue that the sky ways
are safer *because* governments have safety regulations, while others argue
that the free market would force airlines to be safe otherwise they would lose
their customers.  Of course, those for regulations ask about all the people who
would have been killed if there were no regulations until the free market
refused to fly on them, while those against say look how many have been killed
because the regulations were either lacking too much or not well enforced.

Most economist argue that the free market will take care of unsafe airlines in
the long run.  Other economist, beginning with John Maynard Keynes (if I
remember correctly), argue that in the long run, we're all dead.  The point
being that, while they agree that the free markets will solve problems such as
airline safety, the free market takes too long.  Therefore for "public safety"
issues, they argue, the government should step in.

The issues of government intervention are both broad and deep.  There are folks
with PhDs in economics who wrote their dissertation on this subject, and they
disagree.  So, I sure don't think we will all agree -- heck, we sometimes don't
agree on what we see as "facts" :)

LB