Quote from: Jimmy245 on May 03, 2012, 01:09 amPrivate enterprise handles the production and distribution of food. But those markets are highly regulated. Would those markets be even better if they weren't?Jimmy, there isn't a single occurrence of mass starvation in history that didn't have the hand of the state directly involved. You'll have serious trouble having a historian who'd disagree with this. Either by restrictions on labor flows, property rights, or commodities most commonly. Look at the Corn Laws in England or/and the Potato Famine in Ireland for some clear examples in the early 1800s.Contrawise, there has never been a famine in a market where Land Reform has taken place. Every single one of Africa's famines is entirely man-made. Africa really really swallowed the '3rd way', socialist and communism kool-aid big time on economic matters. That is the single biggest reason for its lack of economic performance.These truths are hard to see because the state is extremely vocal, and the hand of the market is silent. It is similar to insurance fraud in terms of visibility. If I commit insurance fraud then I get a pay off of several thousand dollars, seemingly from nowhere. It is impossible to tabulate all the millions of people I've stolen tiny amounts of money from. Capitalism is a new invention. It has existed in a recognizable form for three centuries. It is an emergent behavior, very difficult to pin down in many respects, but we know and appreciate it's power. At least some of us anyway. We had 0.02% GDP growth for several thousand years. Then for 300 years we got (in some places) 2% real GDP growth. That's a 100 fold increase in productivity, each and every year for 300 years.tldr; Well, I know what side I'm on. The winning one.