You, Me, and the Free Market Makes Three
I am a resident of the Pacific Northwest and I am not upset that Boeing recently lost the air tanker contract. Why? Because it appears that the best machine won, and since Boeing has won every defense contract for nearly half a century, I feel that a little pressure to perform better is a good thing. This is because true free market competition, blind to other factors (like socio-political) forces business to deliver the best product at the lowest price. I like this as a taxpaying recipient of the common defense and I like this as a private citizen when I buy every day products. And while I am most certainly a patriot, what’s good for business is good for America, and what’s good for business is to adapt, and improve. And what’s good for Boeing is precisely what it got.
I couldn’t be more in agreement with The Bruce here.
There’s been much to do over the Air Force’s selection of a new foreign-made aerial tanker. Loud voices denounce the traitorous free-market capitalism. Truth is, alot of the parts on Northup Grumman’s aircraft are made in areas of the US far more desperate for work than the home state of Boeing’s Pratt & Whitney engines, Connecticut.
So I don’t care whatsoever. That is, assuming the military is less likely to throw billions at EADS than they did at KBR (example here and in many other media outlets
)
..but then, who knows.
Don Lando
March 5, 2008 at 1:50 am