Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - Re: [Homestead] Consumer protection--what is the Liberta

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Trevor Peck" <trevor AT ISBNread.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Consumer protection--what is the Liberta
  • Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 16:40:49 -0500

> James, my understanding is that the Libertarian Party would choose to
> eliminate most government activities. How far down the bureaucratic food
> chain does that extend? Specifically, what is the position on consumer
> protection laws and their enforcement? Let the consumer beware? Or give
> some level of protection? I'm wondering about things like meat
> inspection, food products labeling, and limits on jury awards in
> malpractice suits.

Hi Gene,

I'm not James, but you may remember a few discussions with me from years
back. I don't have 2 cents to throw in here, but I know someone who
does... Dr. Mary Ruwart. She wrote a book called "Healing Our World" which
is available online for free: http://www.ruwart.com/Healing/ . She also
writes a column called "Short Answers to the Tough Questions" (and a book
by the same title, but I don't think it's available free) I'll quote a bit
from the column archives
(http://www.theadvocates.org/ruwart/categories_list.php). There are many
more topics there, and more answers on topic to your question. I just
picked the first three that matched closest:

Question

"If Libertarianism were to become America's dominant political philosophy,
what would be done to ensure that the powerful remain accountable to those
that they may harm? Would corporations, for example, be banned? It seems
to me that there's something wrong with the idea that someone can cause
tremendous harm (sometimes deliberately) and walk away relatively
unscathed. The Ford Pinto case comes to mind, as does the case of cab
companies that incorporate each cab so that the most they stand to lose
from a terrible accident is the value of the cab."

Answer

"Restitution would be the norm in a libertarian society, even if
compensation had to be made over time. Bankruptcy, for individuals or
businesses, would not relieve the guilty of their duty to restore their
victims. In a libertarian society, the state would be unable to grant a
business limited liability, which is essentially what a corporate charter
entails."

***************************************

Question

"There seems to be a growing problem with herbal remedies such as ginseng,
melatonin, and others. They are not regulated by the FDA, which should be
a good thing according to libertarians. However, it has been found that
many of the most popular ginseng products have no ginseng content. Also,
some ginseng products contain alcohol, which is not specified on the
packaging, and which can be bad for people who, for health reasons, need
to stay away from alcohol. And then you have melatonin, which is usually
marketed in doses which some experts consider to be thirty or forty times
what is effective. What would be the libertarian way to handle this chaos?


Answer

"In a libertarian society, consumers could buy from a firm with quality
'insurance' in the form of independent certifications. Some herbal
companies are already starting to provide such information on request.

"Consumers could sue companies for fraud if they were sold a 'ginseng'
product without ginseng. They could also avoid products that don't
disclose all ingredients. Some consumer organizations and health food
stores do publicize such information today, but not in a systematic way
(yet).

[note from Trevor: Today these companies are protected in their bad
practices by exactly those regulations touted to protect the consumer...
and it's not hard to see why. When you consider that businesses, by
design, have only profit as a motive, why wouldn't they spend money
lobbying to get regulations written that protect them in taking advantage
of the consumer? And once they've taken that leap, it's not hard to
disguise it as consumer protection, since today's bills are thousands of
pages long and not even read by those who vote on them, let alone any
consumers!]

"Most consumers still feel that if a product is on the market, the
government has somehow tested and approved it. Without the heavy hand of
regulation that we have today, most consumers would probably buy products
that had independent certification of some sort, even if the cost was
higher. Today, most people don't feel they need certification and are less
willing to pay for it."

***************************************

Question

"While listening to TV coverage of the California energy crisis, I had
this thought: `How can libertarianism work when people and companies are
so determined to put their own gains ahead of the rest of society?'

"I have been hearing how many power plants are being taken offline for
`repairs' so that the companies many jack up their rates. Under a
libertarian government, there would be no regulation of these businesses
and they could (and would) charge as much as the market can bear.

"What is to control the profiteers and price gougers in a libertarian
society? How do we justify any control or none at all? This issue is one
that has real impact on people's lives and I need to know how to answer
the question."

Answer

"In a libertarian society, consumers rule. If a company tries to
overcharge their customers, their competitors can offer consumers a better
deal. People choose the businesses that serves them best. Profit follows
service.

"To avoid this regulation by the consumers, many companies have tried to
increase prices by colluding to fix prices. However, these `cartels'
invariably fail because whichever company violates the agreement first --
and give consumers the best deal -- wins the business. Thus, the free
market is self-regulating.

"In California, regulations required utilities to sell their generating
plants and buy only from a single state-administered source. This
monopoly, mistakenly referred to as `deregulation' has made competition
illegal. If consumers are displeased with management (or plants being
taken off-line to escalate repair costs), they cannot vote with their
dollars and take their business to another company without encountering
the same problems.

"In summary, the aggression of state regulation allows greedy companies to
exploit consumers by destroying freedom of choice. In a libertarian
society, companies can only serve their own greed by giving their
customers a better deal than a competitor would. That's what makes
`service with a smile' possible."

***************************************

I guess I did have 2 cents to throw in there. Oh well, I've been wrong
before. :-)

- Trevor.

For Web Site Design and Hosting visit:
http://www.pecktec.com
Being the best isn't easy, but we think you're worth it!


--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.1 - Release Date: 1/19/2005





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page