Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultimo Hombre
When citizens in a democracy elect someone to tax Exxon-Mobile and use that extra tax money to subsidize alternative energy sources- that is consumers in a market making decisions about that market- we are just using our political mechanisms to acheive our end. What's the problem with this?
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The problem is economists call this “rent seeking” and it has absolutely nothing to do with “the market.”
Market – buyers and sellers VOLUNTARILY engage in mutually beneficial transactions.
Rent Seeking - an individual, organization or firm seeks to make money by manipulating the economic and/or legal environment rather than by trade and production of wealth.
In a market there would be no need to tax Exxon and give the money to alternative energy companies because consumers would choose the best form of energy for them. In this case...this choice has obviously been gasoline for the past 100 years or so.