They didn't turn to their precious market to rescue the crippled Carnival Splendor cruise ship did they?

Left: The Carnival Splendor, a floating city bailed out by the taxpayer. The market is not so "vibrant" when it comes to it.

I worked for a public utility on the east side of San Francisco Bay. The utility was formed in 1923 to replace multiple private companies that delivered water to the population. The reason was the private sector just couldn’t provide an efficient water supply; wasn’t reliable enough. Capitalism does need reliable roads and public infrastructure which is why many former colonial countries never develop, capitalism won’t develop social infrastructure.

It’s pretty obvious really. Providing society’s basic needs cannot be done by the private sector because there’s no profit in it. How would they charge you when they turn up at your burning house? If you couldn’t pay they’d have to leave.

It’s the same with transportation. The railroads were given massive amounts of subsidies from the state including 20 miles of prime land either side of the tracks. Even with auto, the tracks that cars run on, the freeways, were too important and costly to be left to the market to build.

No, they don’t turn to their beloved market when they’re in a real jam. The crippled cruise ship owners didn’t turn to the market to help their failed business venture out. The taxpayer sent military helicopters with food for the stranded passengers and the coastguard escorted the ship back. They relied on the state not their precious market to bail them out just as the bankers have and their system itself has in the recent economic crisis. And as I saw those helicopters delivering food I was reminded of Katrina. Not one city bus took one resident out of that city. How long were people stranded in that football stadium?

The reason is obvious, rescuing crippled cruise ships and their passengers is not profitable. We don’t turn to the market when we get stranded in the snow during climbing expeditions do we? Who knows how much taxpayer money was spent searching for the billionaire Steve Fosset who died flying his plane a couple years ago; the market wasn’t turned to then.

The most voracious feeders at the public trough are the profit seekers, the bankers, the contractors and corporate CEO’s. They have socialism you see, they just oppose it for the rest of us.