48 lines
3.1 KiB
Plaintext
48 lines
3.1 KiB
Plaintext
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The term "free enterprise" is often used to describe America's market system.
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Unfortunately, when the government sets rules and standards for the companies
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in the system, the result is not free enterprise. Free enterprise is defined
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by Wilson S. Johnson, President of the National Federation of Independent
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Business, as "the successful marriage of personal freedom with economic
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freedom". (1) With free enterprise comes competitive pricing, more wealth which
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is distributed widely among the population, and small business survival--an
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important trait when over 50% of America's non-government workforce is employed
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by small businesses. Deregulation brings free enterprise in a sense truer than
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it has existed in the past. Businesses should not be regulated by the
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government.
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Deregulation in the eighties has brought new meanings to industries such as
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airlines, railroads, and telecomunications. Although adjustment proved
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traumatic, the airline industry grew from 36 to 156 individual airlines.(2) The
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result has been competitive prices, a huge web of new routes, and competitive
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employee wages. In 1980, Congress got rid of rules that encouraged railroads
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to keep unwanted routes, that forced prices too high to compete with truck and
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barge rates, or kept prices too low to make a profit.(3) Now railway companies
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are making deals with shippers at competitive rates allowing, once again, the
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railroads to be an important part of America. Since the breakup of AT&T in
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January 1984, almost every element of tele phoning has been open to
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competition. Numerous firms have been formed boasting low long-distance rates,
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car phone models, fiber-optic cable, and such. The complexity of customer's
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bills and other confusing aspects of having so many different companies a re
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predicted to work themselves out with time. It is obvious that deregulation
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has allowed competition to evolve and thrive in industries where it had never
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been allowed to.
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It is obvious that the presence of many companies in the market is ben
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eficial to the consumer in terms of competitive prices and creating jobs. "The
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annual yield on a small savings account" has soared from 5.5 to over 9% since
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1980.(4) About 80% of passengers travel by plane under a discount fare.(5) The
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cost of standard telephones fell one-third between 1982 and 1983.(6) Although
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the government has been allowing companies in these industries to compete, this
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lift of a guiding hand should not allow companies to risk health hazards of
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their consumers. Just because the a irlines are allowed to compete should not
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imply the destruction of the Federal Aviation Administration's safety rules
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under which airpalnes must fly, for example. Government's role in business
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should be to see to it that the consumer is safe without limi ting his choices
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and educated so he can make the best choices. Deregulation brings the greatest
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good to the greatest number of people by allowing free enterprise to flourish
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in even more of America's big industries. Free enterprise had built America
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and will sustain America as a safe, educated, flourishing nation.
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