Market versus the State

As everybody knows, government is inefficient and wasteful. It is incompetent. “Left-wing” people point out this incompetency in foreign affairs (i.e. the warfare state), while “right-wing” people talk a lot about high taxes (used to pay for the welfare state).

Although each side readily admits the counter-productiveness of government intervention in their favoured area, neither side of politics concedes the more fundamental point: that government simply does not work, and that the market should be preferred wherever possible.

I was reminded of the dichotomy between markets and the state by Lew Rockwell, who wrote:

Would it ever occur to [TV news channels] to interview the head of Wal-Mart or some other commercial enterprise that actually serves the people, in a crisis as well as every day? That actually coordinates and plans effectively as a matter of course? No. Actual public servants are invisible on CNN.

So why is it that government agents frequently grace the front pages? Why does the media buy into false promises that politicians cannot deliver?