Doug:
> Ball-bearing factories use the public infrastructure, consume natural
> resources, create pollution, have suppliers and customers...
right. But a radio station, unless it's a satellite or cable station, produces so many externalities that it's producing something very close to a pure public good. A ball-bearing factory produces only private goods. At least for the simple and narrow task of supplying and demanding bearings, markets would work as a way of espressing the public will (though in a way biased by the distribution of income). For a radio station, they don't.
If we had socialism right now, I'd say that both KPFK and the ball-bearing factory would have to respond to both the employees and the public. Right now, however, the issue concerns only KPFK and other Pacifica stations, no? -- Jim Devine "Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" -- Richard Feynman