A car company can move its factories to Mexico and claim its a free market.






A toy company can out source to a Chinese subcontractor and claim its a free market.






A shoe company can produce its shoes in south east Asia and claim its a free market.

 

A major bank can incorporate in Bermuda to avoid taxes and claim its a free market.






We can buy HP Printers made in Mexico.

 

We can buy shirts made in Bangladesh.  

 

We can purchase almost anything we want from 20 different countries






BUT, heaven help the senior citizens who dare to buy their prescription drugs from a Canadian pharmacy.  Thats called un-American! And you think the pharmaceutical companies dont have a powerful lobby? Think again!

Regardless of what theyre called (by who?) its still a free market.

And I bet the same people who say that about drugs say it about the shirts too.

Really your last comment is unrelated to your previous 10.

The post refers to the US medical system, where drugs arent truly part of a free market system. Under the Bush administration, Medicare, which is a universal system for the elderly, has lost the right to negotiate prices with drug companies, while those same companies have gained protection from price gouging. Because of complicated laws protecting drug companies, and the limited buying power of pharmacy chains, compared to national health services, the price of name brand drugs here is 2-5 times what the rest of the western world pays.

Its just one area which proves that the current cabal isnt "pro-freedom" or "pro-market" or any of those screeching eagle, flag waving memes. No, theyre simply pro-profit--for the companies they thinly represent. Dick Cheney is a representative for Halliburton, who is profiteering greatly in Iraq and Bill Frist, the leader of the Senate, and whose family owns the greatest stock in the HCA hospital chain, is just a agent of the drug and medical industry.

your (public) health care system is fecked - I know people complain about the NHS over here (and it is bloody inefficient) - but compared to yours....

I dont get how your govt spends more per person on healthcare than we do yet youve stil got to get medical insurance too?? you guys must have even more waste of space paper pushers than the NHS does.

As for the free market thing - there are plenty of things that arent really a free market - would 3rd world farmers be so poor if the EU & US could agree on some combined policy in that area - nah they want to keep protectionism in some areas & it stinks.

im totally in favour of free markets tbh...

Markets should be regulated slightly, true "free markets" are easily manipulated through practices like "dumping". The free market in maize , via American agribiz, which can much more efficiently grow corn, has decimated the Mexican agricultural sector.

The US has a supposed free trade policy with China, with few tarrifs. So China artificially devalues the Yuan by permenantly pegging it under the dollar. Not so free, eh?

BTW, the American Medicare system for seniors, on a whole, is very efficient. more so than your NHS, or the Canadian system. Its the other system of various insurance companies, and brokering between them, hospitals, and drug companies, that are what mainly constitutes wasted medical dollars in the states.

Efficient but the equivalent of the Transylvanian health service being run by Count Dracula & Co...

Quote from: maximusotterMarkets should be regulated slightly, true "free markets" are easily manipulated through practices like "dumping". The free market in maize, has American agribiz, which can much more efficiently grow corn, has decimated the Mexican agricultural sector.

tis perfectly acceptible to regulate a free market IMO - but what I dont like however is rampant protectionism.

QuoteThe US has a supposed free trade policy with China, with few tarrifs. So China artificially devalues the Yuan by permenantly pegging it under the dollar. Not so free, eh?

would like to see the yuan freely traded - dont think the chinese govt likes the idea of not having complete control - I reckon that over the next couple of  decades thier entire communist system is in real danger of collapsing anyway.

ATM the Communist party in China is doing anything it can to make sure that sort of thing doesnt happen, it isnt the same as what happened in Russia where there was a failed coup which basically distroyed the party.

I cant see the Cuban communists tooting their clogs anytime soon either. The Russians tried to outproduce the US, except they didnt have either the economic base or resources to be able to do that. Corruption also drained the country badly.

Quote from: SeriousATM the Communist party in China is doing anything it can to make sure that sort of thing doesnt happen, it isnt the same as what happened in Russia where there was a failed coup which basically distroyed the party.
 

Huh, I thought it was Reagan shouting, "Tear down that wall!"  :mutley:  

Quote from: SeriousATM the Communist party in China is doing anything it can to make sure that sort of thing doesnt happen,

yep but youve got the spread of the internet, the issue of Hong Kong & one state two systems + rampant capitalism in other citys.

there are plenty of billionaires in china - but there are also plenty of people for whom a little shack, a mud hut or a tent is home. these people arent that isolated - they know about the west & try to get over here - you can also bet that they know what is going on in thier citys - tis a communist country with probably the biggest divide between rich & poor than anywhere else in the world - not a good mix if you want to avoid civil unrest.

I mean theyve got bits near afghanistsn/pakistan that contain muslim/pakistani people - theyre still occupying tibet + theyve still got an underground pro democracy movement - there are plenty of people in that nation that are working to bring down the current system