The drawbacks of Liberalism
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Market inconsistency
Free markets naturally have economic recessions. These painful events occur often. For example, there have been seventeen notable economic recessions in the United States, including, most famously, the Great Depression.
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The Argument
A laissez-faire/free-market economy is one of the staples of the political philosophy, Liberalism.[1] The United States of America is a prime example of a country that relies on a free market economy. The United States has seen seventeen major economic recessions during its brief existence.[2]
The Great Depression is the most notable of these economic downturns. For the majority of the 1920s, the U.S. economy roared. However, by the end of that decade, production from many industries slipped, and employment dropped. With factory production down and monopolistic companies unwilling to adjust prices and wages, the U.S. economy sank.
A free market led to an inconsistent market. The United States economy, and much of the global economy, only recovered after President Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented his New Deal policies, which regulated markets, produced government-provided jobs, and injected federal money into business investments (something the economist John Keynes wrote to FDR about).[3] The political philosophy of Liberalism, with its key facet of a free market, promotes market inconsistency.
Counter arguments
Market inconsistency is a natural feature of a free-market system. There are ebbs and flows when it comes to the economy.
However, a laissez-faire economy is the best way to allow the market to function. Socialist practices would proliferate the economy if it were not for the free market. Industries and the people who work in them would lose freedoms and rely on the government for handouts.[4] Market inconsistency, while sometimes painful, is a normal and good aspect of the free-market system.
Proponents
Premises
Rejecting the premises
References
- https://prosancons.com/politics/pros-and-cons-of-liberalism/
- https://www.thebalance.com/the-history-of-recessions-in-the-united-states-3306011
- https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/great-depression-history#:~:text=It%20began%20after%20the%20stock,failing%20companies%20laid%20off%20workers.
- https://www.foxnews.com/politics/no-free-market-conservatives-are-not-becoming-dems