Re: Price Gouging: the free market libertarian perspective
What "failed" experiment?
After WW2 the UK was broke -- bankrupt. The US was not because it not only had a lot more economic resources but it was also 'the arsenal of democracy'. The UK didn't qualify for Marshall Plan aid as it had 'woin' the war and it actually experienced severe shortages of coal and food at times during the 1940s. The National Health Service came into being because of the legacy of WW2 -- not only was the population of the UK chronically unfit to fight a war but the government had to underwrite health care because tehre was no insurance mechanism to recoup losses due to enemy action. (Meanwhile, the US's employer based insurance sytem arose from the need to provide incentives to workers since wage levels were pegged.) The US's industries needed refocusing but they were not devastated like the UK's; the amount of investment needed to rebuild the UK's infrastructure was beyond the capabilities of capital markets.
...and so on. Talk so someone who's lived through that period rather than just reciting op-eds from the Telegraph of Mail. (...anyway, the US wasn't quite the land of milk and honey for all during the 40s and 50s.....it largely depended on where you lived and what color your skin was....but that's a whole different story......)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
