John Stossel Claims Capitalism Encourages Competition Which Is Better For You and I

One last point I left out of my post last night. JS claims the capitalist/free market system actually benefits folks like you and I. Uh huh. It sure indeedy does. Benefits us in that companies compete with one another and as a result, you and I get good bargains on goods and services. Uh huh.

If that is the case, why has health insurance premiums continued to skyrocket? Ours jumped up 20% this year alone. I heard the other night that overall, the cost of health insurance jumped 6% while wages, only 3%. (A distorted fact considering wages increased the most for the top 95 percentile, and even at that, cost of health care once again outpaced the cost of living/wage increase. Ah but remember, the free market benefits us all.) There are a lot of health insurance companies out there, but that hasn't resulted in their offering the people a "good bargain". Same for cable. Rates up 100% in the past several years.

Let's look at milk. Up over a dollar gallon in under a year. Lots of different brands to choose from. The cost? Skyrocketing. Gasoline? Same thing. Alcohol and tobacco? Up 20% this year. Food itself, up nearly 20% this year alone. But wait, there is that free market competition offering us those "bargains". How silly of me to forget that.

Oh sure, there are some bargains, if you want to call them that. Goods and services that have seen their costs decline due to market competition. Cell phone plans. Internet plans. And you can go to one of those dollar stores and pick up a toothbrush, a notepad or a bottle of generic tylenol for $1.00 (most of these products of course coming from China, so let's remember that when thinking about the term "bargain"--someone working 14 hour days for a pittance made it so you could have that dollar item).

One must take into consideration the entire pie. While the costs on some things may have come down, while there are some bargains to be had, by and large most of our basic living expenses have continued to far out-pace wage increases. And for those who continue to stick their head in the sand on this one while holding the FREE MARKET sign, I've got news for you. Don't be surprised if some day some desperate, worn out soul comes into your life and takes some of what you have. I can guarantee that if things do not change, "crimes" such as these will only continue to grow. And a little reminder to stick with you in that little sandpit you hide yourself in: Just remember we already have a Socialist Relationship between Corporate America and Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam, doing everything it can, to see to it that the wealth is equally distributed (AND kept there) amongst those at the top.