Free-market Capitalism as a Driver of Energy Policy

I notice – with no particular level of surprise – that many of the comments we get on business blog posts suggest fairly radical ideas in terms of social reform. I am by no means an expert on this, though I do try to keep an open mind to ideas other than garden-variety capitalism.

In fact, I often ask myself: What would have happened in Cuba over the past 50 years if the US hadn’t done everything in its power to ensure the most miserable lives possible for those people? Are there valid alternatives to our way of life?

But, looking at these ideas in a cold and pragmatic light, it seems that these alternative social and economic construct only replace one set of horrors with another – in many case, horrors that are far greater. If market conditions do not set levels of production and consumption of goods and services, who or what does? Can anyone reasonably believe that a centralized government will do a better job than free-market capitalism?