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Michael Perelman wrote: 
 
> I am reminded of the Marlon Brando movie, Burn, where Brando tells 
> the slaveowners that the free market is to slavery what prostitution is to 
> marriage.  Marriage is so inconvenient because of the difficulty of 
> discarding wives, while in contrast the prostitutes at the brothel where 
> the scene takes place always remain young. 
 
Shouldn't this analogy be held up as an example of the kind of  
reasoning that economics helps one comprehend for its true worth?  
The free market, by definition, is the antithesis of slavery; while  
marriage and prostitution are meant in this statement to be substitute  
goods. At best, the lines in the movie are an artistic play on words and  
hardly the basis for sound economic reasoning. They are apparently the  
words of a capitalism basher, who aims to win the propaganda battle  
by co-opting the phrase "free market."   
 
> Setting the slaves free was hardly a sufficient solution, as the United 
> States experience has shown.  Some sort of remedial action was 
> necessary -- especially for aged slaves who lacked the means to care 
> for themselves.  For the most part, 40 acres and a mule was supposed 
> to do something to level the playing field. 
 
No doubt, Michael, you have a better solution to this repression. But  
remedial action for aged slaves? I assume that what you really mean is a  
comfortable rest home. Surely, it is a bit late for these oldtimers to start  
"playing the game."   
 
Pat Gunning 
Sultan Qaboos University, Oman 
 
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