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Comment by CogitoCogito | Hacker News Reader

What makes you believe the free market would lead to decreased usage in dirty steel?

I don't know specifically, I was told that the free market is able to solve any problem when left alone.

Whenever there is a discussion about the lack of affordable housing I am told that what we need is less regulations so that the free market can take care of it. I wonder why it shouldn't be the same for environmental issues since the free market is so powerful.

> I don't know specifically, I was told that the free market is able to solve any problem when left alone.

And many people are told God will solve any problem when left alone. I guess the lesson is don't believe everything you're told.

If you didnt get it I am playing the idiot. It's the only way I can criticize the holy free market without being insta-flagged. If I openly joke on it I'm flagged for causing a flamewar. If I argue against it in honesty I get downvoted to hell. The only way left to speak about the free market as someone who doesn't believe in it is to play the idiot, so that I can prove the absurdity of the argument.

On a long enough time scale though it actually does. Societies which fail to be sustainable “go out of business”. Eventually, societies which achieve sustainability will “remain in business”. We are hoping to shortcut this market process, for obvious reasons.

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