Power of the Market - Consumer Protection

[Aanthanur]

wow good old Milton arguing against freedom.

[SevenSixTwoNato]

Also, does anyone know Friedman's position on the 6th Amendment? Specifically, the provision of Assistance of Counsel?

[SevenSixTwoNato]

Thumbs up for the awesome 'fro at 3:23.

[thelalaman]

GREED!!!



[jordnthoms]

My little girl lost her hearing because a boy at school was shooting a Mexican cap gun on the playground. I wish the government could have helped her.

What Friedman says about prices is now debated among Economists. The free-market system is being questioned. We are finding that in certain industries only the price is different and not the quality, while in other industries only the quality is different and not the price.

[projectbrumaire]

When you let consumers decide, you get McDonalds.

[Ravengaurd6]

@projectbrumaire when you let government decide you get disaster.even if people choose something that isn't good for them it's better than a government spreading out things where it it thinks it needs to go because it runs askew of both the needs and desires of the people and it can cause people to behave in destructive ways to meet their own ends. prohibition is an example.

[projectbrumaire]

Friedman's premise is fundamentally flawed, why did consumers purchase the dangerous vehicle in the first place?

The fact that they did validated the need for government involvement

[jrsub3]

@projectbrumaire 1) As Friedman said in the end, the vehicle really wasn't any more unsafe than any other vehicle. A whole government "industry" was started on non-factual hysteria.

2) People still have the right to choose what they want to buy.

Of course now you'll say "well they'd be safer if gov't tested and regulated", but there's plenty of market punishments (civil lawsuits for producing dangerous products, not buying products, and other wallet-damaging activities).

[projectbrumaire]

@jrsub3

1) I have personally looked through the report he mentioned, and they way he summed it up was not exactly ethical. The Corvair DID compare favorably to other vehicles, beating most in terms of numbers but not all. But what he didn't mention was that average of the vehicles tested was very low. Look through it yourself.

2) Of course, but for systemic risks like vehicle safety, it is benificial as a whole to introduce safety standards.

Check the statistics of fatalities yourself!

[jrsub3]

@projectbrumaire 1) Point is, why did the Corvair start hysteria, if there were worse offenders?

2) That's a jump, comparing safety standard of the 60's to now. Also, if say you're right and we should have a third party inspect things like vehicles, then why does it have to be government?

Why can't we have companies, that can enter contracts w/ vendor and state, to inspect both fairly and quickly, w/ profit motive? Guaranteed things would be done quicker and cheaper.

[ImEuanAndIGotsSkeelz]

i think in a free society we need to have people like nader to speak up about these kind of things, though that by no means requires the government to get involved

[studentofsmith]

@ImEuanAndIGotsSkeelz Oh, absolutely! Activists like Nader, organizations like the Better Business Bureau, consumer magazines/reporters and initiatives like "fair trade" coffee/chocolate are all valid and useful elements of a free market system. The key is all these things rely on the public trust. If they screw up and lose the public trust they'll be replaced by a more reputable organization; and they know it.

[ImEuanAndIGotsSkeelz]

@studentofsmith indeed, i think people sometimes forget that free market does not mean simply getting profit, it just means that we are free to do as we will with our property, that is to say, if these people want to spend a certain way with their own money, say fair trade, then rock on to them

[BeaucoupRed]

On the topic of consumer protection. The rats are jumping ship.

CHEMRISK - a research company hired by the Corn Refiners Association has recently taken down it's YouTube channel.

The removal was in response to negative public perception resulting from the discovery of dangerous levels of MERCURY in HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. Apparently it has become a liability to defend the sweetener.

See one of the last remaining ChemRisk videos at CornRefinersAssoc on YouTube.

[CountArtha]

The best thing you can do for consumers is to let them decide what they want to buy.

[projectbrumaire]

@CountArtha right and they have showed they are so responsible and make healthy food choices for their kids

which is why 1 in 3 kids has diabetes.

consumers are retards

[CountArtha]

@projectbrumaire Consumers are also POOR. Or did you forget that not everyone has money to blow on government-approved foods?

[projectbrumaire]

@CountArtha

Thats ridiculous, fruits and vegetables are very cheap. They are just uninformed and uneducated. And thats not an opinion, that is a fact. 1 and 3 have diabetes, 50% is obese, 45% believe in creationism, remembering the old dictum, actions speak louder than words, these statistics are a clear insight into whether the plebian's actions are congruent with the latest accurate health info. Quite simply they are too stupid, and for the sake of systemic health...government is needed.

[TheMarksmenCat]

@projectbrumaire sure they are... but that's their problem. Government intervention can be a slippery slope - when you protect consumers from something, you could also invent countless reasons to do so for almost everything.

[oryxx]

Love it. Makes me want to buy a Corvair.

[nick3fry]

Friedman is key!

[northduc]

Excellent video. With the populist meme today of more regulation, Friedman reminds us that with regulation comes the danger of government meddling which almost always creates more problems than it seeks to solve.

[spacetours]

Government meddling isn't a possible result of regulation but an absolute one. Regulation of the free market is force not the possibility there of.

[G0dspelronin]

I can tell you from raw experience that the more laws and hurdles that governmental agencies impose on any business that I have been in, the less progress and the more expensive the service/product has become. The older ways and products that I have come in contact with were actually superior to the regulated and "approved" products I deal with today....it never ceases to baffle me how more regulation is going to help us. I have the perfect compound word to rebuttle that idea...BULLSHIT! lol