YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER

Anon on ‘Deft News’ (Linking News That Matters (26 March)

HERE

“The Invisible Hand of the Market vs. the Dead Hand of Politically-Motivated Regulation”

“What the invisible hand of free-market innovation giveth, the dead hand of politically motivated regulation tryeth desperately to take away.That’s the only way to describe what’s happening to three wildly innovative and popular products: the award-winning electric car Tesla, taxi-replacement service Uber and hotel alternative Airbnb. These companies are not only revolutionizing their industries via cutting-edge technology and customer-empowering distribution, they’re also running afoul of interest groups that are quick to use political muscle to maintain market share and the status quo. The invisible hand of free markets shouldn’t have to spend so much of its time slapping away the dead hand of political entrepreneurship.”

Comment

The “invisible hand” is given three roles: “free-market innovation”; “invisible hand of free markets”; and, of course, its role as used by Adam Smith, specifically the “invisible hand” of the agent’s motivations for the actions they take that have both intended consequences and, added Smith, the “unintended consequences” that this actions may cause.  Nothing is mentioned about “innovation” nor “free markets”, or for that matter, “the Dead Hand of Politically-Motivated Regulation”.

I could generalise and assert that all human societies since the invention of farming and the following of deer, sheep, and other animals have been accompanied by some forms of ‘government’, whether tribal, individual, or, later, full blown states that set the boundaries of acceptable behaviour, a.k.a. laws and justice, including their instruments of power.

Remove all ‘regulations’ and they will inevitably return in some form or other.