Quote:You absolutely can if you permit people to suffer the negative consequences of their actions. If severe negative consequences are the standard then there's very little the government shouldn't do for you. Food, shelter, power, transportation, employment, your diet, exercise regimen...everthing in life can have severe consequences, that's simply not a reason for government to direct and finance anything.

 

Most of what you say I agree with.  The problem is, we (the general public) are not willing to let people fail to the point where there are starving children walking around begging for food, or people dying of treatable diseases because they didn't save up enough money to save themselves.   We're just not willing to let people fail, because it's so unpleasant to look at.  We just don't want to have a society that is that brutal and unpleasant to walk around in. 

 

There's no doubt that the free market would work if you allow part of the consequences to be very unpleasant.   We're just not willing to do that. 

 

So, free markets work.  Yes.  Having severe consequences for failure is a strong motivator for people to work hard and succeed.   Yes.   Do we want to see severe consequences in reality?   I don't think the public has a strong enough stomach. 

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