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WalterBright

> Not true in the slightest

Nobody said it was a "perfect" free market. Nothing human is perfect. It was a decent approximation to one, thought.

Check out "The Black Book of Communism".

> Medicare and Social Security alone keep millions of seniors from dying homeless on the street every year

Somehow that didn't seem to have any effect on life expectancy or poverty statistics.

> governmental organizations brought people out of poverty

Do you really think that the enormous movement in the 19th century US of people out of poverty into the middle class came from government wealth transfer programs? Or do you think that the US population consisted of wealthy people who immigrated from Europe?

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https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy-at-birth-...

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/median-age?time=earliest....

>> Medicare and Social Security alone keep millions of seniors from dying homeless on the street every year

> Somehow that didn't seem to have any effect on life expectancy or poverty statistics.

It didn't? Again, no evidence of anything.

>Nobody said it was a "perfect" free market. Nothing human is perfect. It was a decent approximation to one, thought.

What are you talking about. Do you know the definition of 'free market'?

"an economic system in which prices are determined by *unrestricted* competition between privately owned businesses."

The United States is not, and never has been, a free market economy. Using 'perfect' and 'imperfect' is you simply trying to bend a definition to support an argument you want to make. The US market has always been highly regulated.

>Somehow that didn't seem to have any effect on life expectancy or poverty statistics.

Ah, so you're just throwing reality all the way out the window then?

>Do you really think that the enormous movement in the 19th century US of people out of poverty into the middle class came from government wealth transfer programs?

Why are you talking about wealth transfer programs? What are you talking about?

Your knowledge on this subject seems to be realllly skewed towards what someone who consumes a lot of right-wing media content would think. I encourage you to do some actual reading on the subject.

> The US market has always been highly regulated.

Describe what you consider as "highly regulated".

> Why are you talking about wealth transfer programs?

You brought up Medicare and Social Security.

> Your knowledge on this subject seems to be realllly skewed towards what someone who consumes a lot of right-wing media content would think

What I read are history books.

>Describe what you consider as "highly regulated".

The United States economy. We have trade regulations, license regulations,import and export regulations, we have standards regulations. You know, lots of restrictions on trade.

>You brought up Medicare and Social Security.

Neither of those programs are 'wealth transfer' programs.

>What I read are history books.

Oh really, what are some of your favorites?

> We have trade regulations, license regulations,import and export regulations, we have standards regulations. You know, lots of restrictions on trade.

That isn't what "highly" regulated is. Things start getting highly regulated when the government sets what prices you can charge, who you are allowed to do business with, etc.

For example, I'm in the software business. There aren't any regulations on it.

> Neither of those programs are 'wealth transfer' programs.

That's exactly what they are. SS tax receipts, for example, go directly to recipients.

> Oh really

Shocked, are you? I wouldn't want to burst your illusions. Imagine what you want.

Oh what the heck. I have a book for you, "Titan" by Chernow. You'll like it because Chernow tries to paint all the left wing tropes on Rockefeller. Unfortunately, his narrative facts contradict his conclusions.

After you've read it, come back and enlighten me on how "highly regulated" the oil business was in Rockefeller's days.

Another gem is "Nothing Like It In The World" by Ambrose. Ambrose also approached the topic with the usual left-wing bias, but his research completely upended his narrative. Unlike Chernow, he wrote a nice mea culpa about his transformation engendered by the facts.

"Empire of the Summer Moon" is another one that will challenge your point of view.

So your examples of books you've read are you books you disagree with? You are the primary source for your world view it appears.

Based on this post, I'm guessing you don't have any serious suggestions?

>Things start getting highly regulated when the government sets what prices you can charge, who you are allowed to do business with, etc.

Oh! It's so convenient that the definition of 'highly regulated' for you fits perfectly into your world view. Those hundreds of thousands of pages of laws that govern trade and the tens of thousands of enforcement officials must just be my imaginiation

>For example, I'm in the software business. There aren't any regulations on it.

Your definition of regulation is different than the actual definition of regulation.

You already got your understanding of the German economy corrected by others. I think you almost certainly are a great example of someone who is a SME in one area which makes you think you are a SME in other areas, when you actually aren't.

Social Security and Medicare aren't wealth transfer programs. The United States has tons of regulations and central economic planning. Your ignorance of those facts is a deficit on your part that you can easily rectify.

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