NOLA: How the free market works

[NorCalDem]

I hope nobody else posted this already
http://www.reconstructionwatch.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=113

NEW ORLEANS -- More than seven months after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, Louisiana regulators remain locked in battle with environmental advocates over what to do about elevated levels of toxic chemicals in sediment left behind in the city.

On one side, groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network are sounding the alarm over the results of federal Environmental Protection Agency sampling data, which they say reveals levels of heavy metals and other toxins so high that children shouldn't return to the city.

-snip-

If private companies always do what's best (for everyone) then why are we having this problem. Methinks it wasn't the residents of NOLA that dumped heavy metals and toxins into the water, but of course, they're the ones left paying for it :grr:

[Nederland]

1. The Free Market

The Free Market doesn't always do what's best for everyone.

The Free Market does whatever its customers are willing to pay for.

A big, big difference.

[Extend a Hand]

2. We don't operate with anything even REMOTELY

resembling a free market in this country. I still can't figure out why anyone thinks we HAVE a free market.

[NorCalDem]

4. I wasn't trying to suggest we actually have one

just debunking the argument that we'd live in some sort of Utopia if we did (that's the Repugs are saying all the time, aren't they?). Basically, the big fish get rich off of shitting on the little ones!

Yeah Capitalism

[dmkinsey]

3. I think that in a free market the players seek to maximize

their own benefit.
The business person could dispose of the toxic waste in a safe, responsible manner or dispose of it irresponsibly and gain more profit.

Freedom

[Nederland]

6. Only if that's what customers want

If customers refused to buy products made by companies that destroy the environment, corporations would very quickly change their behavior. Sadly, most customers don't care. Oh, they say they care, but in reality all people look for when they buy is quality and price. They just can't be bothered to research the producer's record on the environment, labor relations, etc.

[dmkinsey]

7. yeah, but

but in reality all people look for when they buy is quality and price.
and they're not THAT into quality. I direct your attention to Wal-Mart, the biggest corporation in the history of the world

[marbuc]

5. This is why the "free market" does not exist anywhere outside of

economics textbooks and journals. Human nature precludes it.