>>>But if people were going to die of starvation anyhow, the market system
>>>has not only done no harm, but actually resulted in an improvement.
>>>
>>>Bill Bartlett
>>>Bracknell Tas
>>
>>The exact argument of Lord Edward Lytton and Sir Richard Temple in not
>>wishing to pervert "the market" by saving lives who would otherwise die
>>anyway. Of course 50 million dead between the years 1876-1899 because of
>>the imposition of market forces is generally considered a "natural
>>disaster", the result of drought rather than what it really was. "The
>>markets" failures are every bit as spectacular as anything any central
>>planners could be blamed for.
>
>I've no idea what your point is, who are these jokers, that isn't what I'm
>saying and if you'd read what I said you'd see I'm not defending markets.
>Maybe you've taken them completely out of context too?
>
>Bill Bartlett
>Bracknell Tas
These jokers, the Indian Viceroy and his stooge the Lt. Governor were responsible for the "famine" deaths that decimated India during their time. The point is "people who were going to die of starvation anyway" don't really exist for the most part. Most famines are not about an absolute shortage of food but an inability to purchase food. The Irish Great Hunger, India 1876-1879 and 1896-1901 China 1876-1879 and 1896-1900, Brazil 1896-1901. In all these examples and more food was exported from the famine areas to places where people could afford to buy it. To speak of people who were going to die anyway, to say that market forces have done them no harm, makes no sense. I don't think you're trying to defend markets but to accept the idea that there exists some number of people who would "naturally" die of starvation does exactly that.
John Thornton
-- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.296 / Virus Database: 265.6.7 - Release Date: 12/30/2004
--- avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 0501-0, 01/04/2005 Tested on: 1/4/2005 12:23:38 PM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2004 ALWIL Software. http://www.avast.com