If you ever needed proof why the market does not self regulate and why rules, laws and governments are needed, take the cases reported today of companies ripping off the public sector (you know the public sector, the one always being slagged off by the private sector as being inefficient) by colluding of tenders for contracts.
Yes, finally evidence has been produced to show that taxpayers are being ripped off be private companies who in some cases pay each other to put in inflated bids !
No doubt some libertarian will be along shortly to tell is that the market self regulates and that this is all a figment of my imagination.
4 comments:
The only answer to the Libertarians is Adam Smith who said 'People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.'
The problem is you can't rely on the state either.
There is a very clear example of the national interest being sacrificed for the twilight of the careers of certain politicians being extended by a few more days.
Of course price fixing is illegal and damages the market - just like government intervention does.
It's long been proved that the idea that the private sector is by definition going to do something better and cheaper than the public sector is simply marketist dogma.
This is not an argument against putting anything out to tender ever, of course, just that it shouldn't be done with blind enthusiasm.
The free market should be a tool that serves people. People should not becomes slaves to the market.
"The free market should be a tool that serves people. People should not becomes slaves to the market."
Believe it or not but in my day, during the 1960s and the 1970s, The Conservative Party actually believed in these fine principles. "That woman" then took over.
I'm not looking forward to the next Election. It appears, for the first time in my life, I might have to choose. In modern politics am I a Conservative or a Liberal?
Post a Comment