> Or perhaps many of today's woes are caused by a  
> belief in the  
> possibility of a pure free market and the myth of  
> perfect competition.  
  
  
I would like to hear one example of someone who  
actually believes in pure free markets or perfect  
comp. I have NEVER come across a proponent of  
deregulation- privatization who sees perfect comp as  
anything but a thought experiment. Mises and Hayek  
were quite explicit about the imperfect nature of the  
market process. Even Bob Lucas freely admits that  
there is no such thing as hyper-neutral money and  
perfect market clearing. Every one knows that the  
models in question are just models, and not exact  
descriptions of reality.  
  
Benevolent omniscient social planners are also  
generally seen as imaginary. Aside from a few of the  
more interesting (i.e. mental) socialists, who  
believed in anti-lions and seas of lemonade,  
proponents of intervention/ socialization have  
generally not made wild or absurd claims regarding the  
merits of government.   
  
The real problem is that that some actually believe in  
perfect versions of their preferred systems, but with  
those who avoid constructive dialog with false  
accusations of utopianism. Joe Stiglitz is  
particularly good at this.   
  
Doug Mackenzie