The Angry Economist

The government needs to get out of the marrying business. Marriage should be a religious arrangement. Continuous lengthy cohabitation should, absent a contract to the contrary, be a default contract laying out certain rights as would a common-law marriage. Apart from that, the government should have nothing to say.

The controversy over gay marriage should be a lesson to everyone who wants the government to do more in society. Every disagreement comes a reason for political unrest.

The more government interference in civil society, the less civilized and the less peaceful the society.

Gary Reback is one of those attorneys who understands his subject very well. Unfortunately, since he isn't an economist, and shows no evidence of having studied, it doesn't MATTER how well he understands antitrust. You can always tell someone who is ignorant of the operation of markets when they say "self-policing" in reference to how companies behave when not regulated by legislation.

First, understand that free markets are not without regulation. The participants in the market regulate the behavior of other participants, by their choice of who to cooperate with and who to spurn. But secondly, corporations never Never NEVER NEVER self-police. Never. Ever. Not on a good day, not on a bad day. That's not how free markets work. Somebody who understands how they work would NEVER use that phrase. Corporations regulate the behavior of other corporations. They're all greedy sons-of-bitches, and they wouldn't hesitate to cut their mother's throat, OR their own prices in order to gain market share.

Consequently, the only way for a company to persistently[1] dominate their market is with assistance of the government. You know. The same government that Gary Reback wants to have the power to regulate markets.

Yeah. That's why this article is entitled "Dimbulb". That would be Gary.

[1] I would note that Pedipaws is currently dominating the market for pet claw grinders. That's okay, they created the market, they should be allowed to own it, for a while. The only way to dominate a market is by creating a new product that nobody else has, by getting a government monopoly (e.g. a patent), or by constantly offering a better deal than anyone else. That's how Standard Oil got and kept its monopoly -- by constantly improving its process and driving the price of a barrel of oil into the ground.

It is NOT MORAL to use violence (or threats of violence) to change the behavior of peaceful people. This is true no matter what they are doing: whether they are talking to each other, writing to each other, meeting with each other, worshipping with each other, or, yes, trading with each other.

Even if you COULD successfully direct the behavior of other people who have their own plans, IT IS NOT MORAL TO DO SO.

Yeeks! Patri Friedman disses folk activism, which I sadly find myself trapped in here.

Sing it, choir!