Free Market Ecology

“Economics” is based on the assumption that people act in ways that maximize their wealth as individuals. It holds true for many situations. All else being equal, we’ll buy products at the best price we can get them and take the highest wage we can find. The assumption is that we act out of selfishness—and economics is just its rational application. Under the laws of economics, we wouldn’t pay for the same book twice.

An ecology, on the other hand, though wildly competitive and occasionally just as cruel as any economy, is based on interdependency. The members of a coral reef or slime mold know how to take coordinated action when it’s called for. The shit of one organism is fertilizer for another. An ecology still operates under the assumption of maximizing wealth, but of the whole collective organism —and over time.

-- Douglas Rushkoff on the Light at the End of the Reality Tunnel

I had a similar discussion with a friend today over lunch. We were talking about how levvies can be used to create environmental/social outcomes via the market apparatus itself. e.g. the EU car emission legislation will create a market - a very competitive market - in low emmission cars which can be used to "offset" the carbon emissions of sports cars. Or how a HealthCare Tax on Big Tobacco could be used to recoup health costs but also make them pay for the true cost of their product, which is currently being picked up by the welfare state.

Pure conjecture - I wonder if you could reduce income tax considerably and and increase rely various "social taxes" to generate income for the state?

But nobody really wants to pay for it

The difference between creating something that people will actually leave their homes and travel to enjoy, and creating something that people have to make no effort at all to enjoy is vast and deep. Even television programs, which seem free, need to be good enough to sustain enough interest that you’re willing to sit through commercials.

YouTube has millions of users and millions of videos. But really…honestly…couldn’t you live without…all of it?

I would gladly agree to incinerate all of the content on YouTube in exchange for one more season of The Sopranos.

-- Craig Mazin on Why You Won't Get Paid Cause You Suck

Which is why government subsidised shit is still shit. Personally, I kind of like this conspiracy theory proposed on the comments within Craig's post:

strange how in a time when our government shows us that we have zilch power at all, and our voice in form of opinion polls means crap (last night’s presidential address, anybody?) a renowned mass publication tells us “we’re de man!”. on second thought, not strange at all… this is mass manipulation on a grand scale. the home of the brave is transforming into a brave new world, right before our eyes. that’s what I call entertaining.

In other words, its sleight of hands. Empowering us with "youTube" and "mySpace" is all about distracting us from bothering to do anything about what really matters. I don't think the people are powerless at all. They're careless.