This question <11|14> overall <11|13> Jimmy: <519|162-1>.  
  Question 4: Can you think of things which are part of the riches of capitalist society but which are not produced for and traded on markets?   
  [12] Jimmy: Governmental Regulation   I agree with Hans in that capitalist society is set up in such a way that capitalists have to expand production. I do not agree that it can't have limits. We live in an ever expanding world with an ever expanding population. Production must go forward, but it shouldn't get to the point where we are endangering our own lives with pollution. I don't agree with Hans' statement, “The economic system they[capitalists] are in forces them to be reckless against the environment, and to externalize as many costs as possible.” None of these capitalists are forced to become reckless, they choose to be reckless with our planets recources out of a want for profit. Humans are fallible and ultimately will make poor decisions and can do things that are detrimental to the whole because of poor judgement, but just because these individuals have a different set of values doesn't neccessarily mean that our economic system is responsible. Our government, or should I say the governments of the world, need to take action to regulate the system. Government regulation is a viable answer to a society driven by capitalism. I find it to be very radical to think that, “You cannot remedy this [recklessness against the environment] with law suits or even governement regulation.” Mankind as a whole will not allow those reckless self-interested capitalists to destroy what we have, but they will continue to produce to keep up with the demand of an ever growing world population. I agree that this production should be, “deliberately planned,” but I don't agree that the whole relies “on the profit motive to automatically generate the right outcomes.” I think that through governmental regulation capitalism can benefit mankind in terms of quality of life for the present population as well as the future.   
 
 
 
  Students enrolled for Econ 5080 in 2009fa are invited to give feedback to the above message
Pseudonym:      UofU ID:  
Text: