What evidence has the free market given in the last year?

[Dr. Obama]

to suggest they would be better at pulling the economy out of the cellar rather than the government?

[dnafairy]

Last year? None. Last 100 years? plenty.

[shallowpear989]

History has proved it will work. History has also proved spending doesn't help.

[Shriekingtest875]

The free market has not been given a chance in quite a long time.

Government intervention into the economy has ALWAYS made things worse.

[Sean F]

The free market can give no such evidence because it is already being manipulated by the government. A better question is what evidence can be pointed to that suggests the government can pull the economy out of this mess?

[Matt W]

I'll counter your question with another question: What evidence has the government given to suggest that they can do anything right? Social security? Bankrupt. Medicaid? Bankrupt. Our education system? In shambles. Just walk into any government office and look at the rash of garbage you have to deal with to get anything done. We can hardly trust them to run the DMV let alone our economy.

The free market system is a natural evolution of human interaction. Just like language it has no single inventor but is rather an extension of human nature. It is not perfect, but functions within the realm of the collective intelligence of the planet whereas the government functions within the realm of the wisdom of a few elected officials with no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office.

No. I wouldn't put too much faith in government. I'd much rather buy stock in the human aspirations. Taking from group A to satisfy group B will not solve any of our problems. The entrepreneurial spirit upon which the United States of America was founded, however, certainly will.

But, by all means, feel free to suck the teat of the almighty government and beg for handouts. It's increasingly becoming the New American Way.

"In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet, and say to us, 'Make us your slaves, but feed us.'"
-Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor

[john]

Free marketers are just as critical, if not more critical, than most people of our current system. Our system is plagued by crony capitalism and incestuous relationships between corporations and Congress.

One thing that we can all agree on is that the current system is broken and needs fixing.

If you examine the depression of 1921, it was quite severe and we look a relatively laissez-faire approach to correct the problem. It lasted until 1923, but after all the crap was cleaned out of the system and people decided to invest more soundly, we experienced one of the most progressive times in our nation's history: The roaring 20's.