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Originally Posted by dksuddeth
insurance companies are not operating in a free market environment. They are probably one of the top 5 heavily regulated industries out there.
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They may be regulated but they are definitely not regulated enough. The health insurance companies are the worst about denying claims. One of the major problems with regulatory agencies in the US is they are controlled by the executive branch which can lead to a reduction in there independence. This is been very clear in the last 7 years especially with the EPA.
These agencies need to be made more independent and safe guards need to be put in to avoid political and other influences on them.
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Originally Posted by Ustwo
But the real power in a free market is you don't have to trust it to have your best interests at heart for it to work. In the pursuit of profits, the self interest of the system, is what allows the innovations to take place.
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What happens when the pursuit of profits goes against my self interests? You know like say I live next to a chemical plant and it is cheaper for them to dump the waist in my back yard than dispose of it properly?
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Originally Posted by Ustwo
Which leads me to what government DOES do really well in the whole free market process.
The patent office and protecting intellectual property. This is the key to it all. If you want to hug a bureaucracy hug this one. This allows not only the inventor profit, but also means you don't have to hide how its done.
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Thats funny that you say this because I think our patent system is broken. To many people are patenting things that should not be patentable (especially when it comes to software). If the car was invented today people would have patented the door, the windows, the gas tank, the tires, the paint color, etc. The patent office has a bunch of people with bachelors degrees approving patents on things they have no clue about. How else could someone patent a single mouse click?