What is Laissez-faire Economics?

[Steve Stuck]

An economic doctrine that opposes governmental regulation of or interference in commerce beyond the minimum necessary for a free-enterprise system to operate according to its own economic laws.

There are many school of thoughts but all comeback to letting the economics of free market economy work on its own. The power of the consumer is the best driving force for regulation and prosperity. Ever looked at laws or government agencies that are created to "help" our economy? Not much happens and they actually makes things worse.

Many things are driving down our economy right now. Some of it is very much needed and shows the power of the consumer. Others are started by our government and most do not want to discuss it. Take for instance prices on products or services we pay for today. These prices are artificially inflated by up too 23% by hidden taxes and regulation. Medicare and other government run health programs are not only going into debt, but are also causing this healthcare system to be over inflated in pricing. Why is this? These programs create a false demand for medical services needed and do not let true markets take their course.

I will posting many different articles from time to time. I welcome your participation.

[Mark Howard]

Government interference in the free market is a big part of what has made Laissez-faire economics seem like a failure over the last year, particularly in lending. But who would have thought that these big lending companies would set up compensation systems that would be suicidal? I was with Citigroup during the heyday of lending, and saw a lot of it firsthand. I knew some levels of management were idiotic, but I did not think it went all the way to the top, obviously it did. I would like to know more about 'supply and demand' for products being thrown out the window for commodities, I knew there was no way that demand dictated the incredible run up in the price of oil over such a short period of time. So the demand has to be an artificial demand created by traders, who hopefully lost their rear-ends over the last 6 months as the price basically crashed on them. In the long run the supply and demand function works, but in the short run it can go insane. A big problem is that when it goes insane, instead of letting the market correct it, the people grab their pitchforks and demand government intervention, and the whore politicians then start babbling nonsense about 'windfall profit' taxes, which in the long-run are horrible for an economy. Fortunately the price of oil fell before that nonsense could be implemented. The nonsense is in full force however on many other aspects of the economy. There, I got the ball rolling.....

[Steve Stuck]

All of this is still corrected on its own and unfortunately government intervention follows way behind with its bad effects.

Yes, there was some run up on oil by traders, but at the same time traders still make money by predicting the fall of it. The free market is not perfect, but it can correct itself way faster than any government program.

Nothing is perfect in life and many times in order to succeed you have to fail. I am not even that mad about banks lending the way they did. The free market showed the ugly results with the foreclosures happening with people who couldn't afford the homes. People now are starting to understand "we can't loan like that" again. Lots of people conversations have changed. Unfortunately, government is still working on asinine projects to gain themselves power.