Reply #162: The U.S. had a pretty libertarian economy in the 19th century

[Lydia Leftcoast]

and the excesses and criminal acts of unregulated business and landowners led to the regulations that modern economic libertarians hate so much.

The Securities and Exchange Commission was founded because of massive fraud that made Enron look like a 3-card monte game.

The Food and Drug Administration was founded because farmers were knowingly selling meat and milk from sick animals, food was processed under filthy conditions, and patent medicine manufacturers knowingly filled their concoctions with opiates to ensure that the customers came back for more.

There was no welfare. Unemployed poor people who didn't meet the stringent (and highly judgmental) requirements of the private charities had no alternative to crime or prostitution.

No laws against child labor. Children went to work at age 6 and grew up illiterate.

Workers on strike? The law was heavily on the side of the employers, and workers were told that they could just go work somewhere else if they didn't like it.

You know what would have happened to our national park lands if the government hadn't started preserving them in 1872? Imagine Yellowstone Park with each geyser privately owned and the wilderness entirely replaced with ticky-tacky souvenir shops and amusement parks. Far-fetched? Nope. It's exactly what happened to Beppu, Japan, one of four places in the entire world with geysers.

Oh, yeah, a libertarian economy would produce heaven on earth--as long as you could live in a gated community and hire private guards.