Who are the fools?

In a letter to the Editor published in today's NY Times, Professor Christopher Woodruff, Associate Professor of Economics, Director of Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies , at University of California, San Diego wrote:

"Why do drug companies feel so strongly about unfettered markets on the revenue side, when they rely on subsidies on the cost side? Don't we taxpayers, too, deserve some return on our investment?"

Why indeed are corporations with power over markets so loath to pay the costs of earning their revenue? And it isn't just indirect costs they try to avoid. They seek to avoid direct costs as well ... unless we define direct costs as those costs that are paid out of revenues ... and if the corporations can get away with not paying for something, then it becomes an indirect cost ... that is, someone else pays.

If someone dumped sludge in our yard, we would expect them to clean it up. Then why are power plants east of New Jersey allowed to pollute New Jersey's air? ... for example. Who should pay for the damage done in New Jersey by the pollution produced in Pennslyvania or Ohio? Is this a God thing?

There are so many examples of the absurdities inherent in the concept "unfettered markets" that I am left with the observation that either fools are in charge or those who are in charge think the rest of us are fools.