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- Dec 12, 2016
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I'm not disagreeing with you. Government has a critical role in capitalistic societies. Capitalism may be the best system for allocating resources, but it is also inherently unstable. In capitalism, wealth tends to accumulate in fewer and fewer hands over time and eventually one or a few persons ends up owning everything. And there are the things you mentioned like child labor laws which can only happen if everyone does it. Otherwise if everyone else is doing it and you stop, you'll be at a competitive disadvantage and be driven out of business.
And some things like building dams are also hard to implement in the private sector. You can charge for a private toll road, but how do you charge a city for not getting flooded because a new dam is holding back the monsoon rains and releasing it slowly to provide a steady flow of water for drinking and irrigation?
But I think it's inaccurate to call these things capitalistic. Slapping the invisible hand is the opposite of capitalism, not capitalism. Even if it needs a good slapping every once in a while.
Seems like we agree. Why can't other liberals and conservatives?