Friday, August 19, 2011

The Hell of Uncertainty, a "Free Market" Phobia



"If you tried to doubt everything you would not get as far as doubting anything. The game of doubting itself presupposes certainty."
-----On Certainty, Wittgenstein, 115.


Uncertainty is killing free markets. Proposed regulation and tax hikes are terrorizing CEO's and investors. Keep in mind they are making record profits and enjoying an unprecedented growth in wealth. But uncertainty is used as a bogeyman to explain the lack of jobs and also to polemicize against regulation and more progressive tax policies. In a time of record income equality, growing unemployment and poverty it seems reasonable to ask more from a class that has benefited the most from tax-payer bail outs. Can they be certain the State will remain their steadfast lackey in the face of rioting majorities?

Economists from Adam Smith to Marx have noted that unfettered markets lead to greater income inequality and uncertainty. In their infinite wisdom the masters of our present day markets want less fetters, more income inequality enshrined in legislation, and greater uncertainty to produce certainty. This is a neurosis born of fear the free ride they are getting from their cronies in government and the people will soon end.

The main fear they have is being held accountable for their fraudulent practices. Since 2006 they have gone on a crime spree largely ignored, and at times staunchly upheld, by our leaders in Government. Fraud continues unabated and is a large part of their success. Will they be able to continue their illegal practices and loot every nation's wealth? Will the lower classes rise up and create conditions making it impossible for markets to sow their own brand of anarchy backed up by the state's monopoly of force? This is the true uncertainty. The elite looters fear the looted. They need the full and unconditional support of every state's security forces. They are getting it in the United States and United Kingdom, for now. The future is not promised.


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