"Oh yeah it limits competition amongst telecoms. The problem is private companies will lobby for regulations that help them limit competition. "

Good point Sam. Lobbying politicians to limit competition and/or benefit you over a competitor is a huge problem that needs to be resolved. But this is all in line with my general theory of limiting the power of the government.

Look at it this way. If the government had no power to issue advantages; then businesses / individuals would have no reason to give politicians money for re-election.

Politics would go back to the way it should be. Public service; not a career move.

lol, no matter where you are, you always go for the career move.

Without proper oversight you will experience deterioration in the quantity and quality of public goods. Our economy needs government regulations, the problem is we often opt for command and control regulations over more efficient Pigovian tax style regulations to protect public goods from being wasted.

We do not live live in a perfectly competitive economy. Companies have the superior information and use it to their advantage, the market is good at correcting for inefficiencies, and I like free markets, but to think that all the problems would be solved by taking the chains off these poor companies you are fooling yourself.

"Companies have the superior information and use it to their advantage, the market is good at correcting for inefficiencies, and I like free markets, but to think that all the problems would be solved by taking the chains off these poor companies you are fooling yourself."

Sam; you are right. It is true that lassiez-faire capitalism is not a utopia; we will be trading existing problems for new problems. As with any change in life; new issues will arise.

However reality dictates that we do change. And history dictates that we should change in the direction of more freedom as opposed to less freedom. So I say; let's have change; let's have more freedom. Sure there will be problems; but we will also have jobs; and new investment; and increases to our living standards. In accordance with every economy in existent that has made a similar move.

Economic freedom is directly related to standard of living increases.

Out of curiosity, what are the restrictions on capitalism you want lifted? Do you have some examples of changes you think should be made?

At the federal level; basically everything. If states want regulations; I believe that is in accordance with the constitution.

Although I'd prefer little regulation at the state level; I do recognize the genius of allowing the states to experiment. People can move from state to state; which will keep states competitive. Almost like using Darwin's natural selection to allow innovation in states.

I think states right is an archaic system and that made sense when transportation of people/goods/information took months. Now information can be transported instantly and shipping good across the country takes days at most.

Leaving health care regulation up to the states has created the bloated insurance system we have and limited competition at the state level. States should have flexibility with how they oversee many things, but I don't see how local politicians are any less likely to muck up the system then national politicians.

"Leaving health care regulation up to the states has created the bloated insurance system we have and limited competition at the state level."

Sam; I definitely agree that the current system has issues. But currently the federal government has a regulation that says essentially: "You must buy insurance from an insurance company in-state."

If you removed this regulation; prices of health insurance would drop drastically. Instantly each insurance company would now need to compete at a national level. More competition = lower prices.

Btw, can anyone tell me why that law exists?