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what's the hidden cost of subsidizing lefty professors who come up with mindless theories?...with this guys silly ideas will be back to the caves with spears and knives in no time

Jgarbuz
that's very hopeful...

Before there were free markets there were slave markets. When we freed the slaves under the communist systems in Russia, China, India and Eastern Europe, they became free to compete and trade with us. This tsunami of freedom has had some temporarily deleterious effects on the American middle class which had known little competition since WWII. So yes, there is greater competition for resources today, but there is also greater innovation going on all over to find ways to overcome the temporary scarcity of resources. The use of silicon in electronics created our modern technology revolution, making communications ubiquitious for almost all, and the use of new discoveries being made now will overcome the temporary shortages of today, provided we do not destroy the planet before we get there.

What about the other way around? How much *less* is the real cost of a rechargeable battery vs. a nonrechargeable one? An organic cotton T-shirt (certainly more expensive in stores) than one made from conventionally grown cotton? Or (my favorite) organic fair-trade chocolate vs. Nestle's (which gets an F from the Better World Shopping Guide [http://betterworldshopper.org/r-chocolate.html])?

Great segment Brian - you should consider inviting Mr. Patel back and giving him more time to illustrate his point about hidden costs. It is clear to me that listener Cameron did not understand Mr. Patel's argument (or did not want to even accept the premise).

ugh. seriously hate when you have really really ignorant callers yapping about stuff that they clearly know nothing. cameron was so lame. "iowa produces most of our beef so we dont destroy the rainforest with our hamburger consumption". such ignorance is annoying but esp when you let the ignorance ramble and ramble and ramble on....i agree that you should challenge people a bit more when they are clearly uninformed...

Conversely, the housing bubble caused the cost of houses and apartments to go up way out of proportion to what most people can afford.
In new york, many apartments have been cut in half and are rented at full price market value.

caller camron, please run for president we deserve leaders like u!

how bout the conditions of illegal immigrants working in the meatpacking industries under horrific conditions and wages

How did the last caller Cameron not comprehend it? It's all very logical and makes sense...whether or not we take it serious is the question. It's not a debatable topic either, lots of markets are subsidized and has a negative impact.

Clean, high quality freshwater is probably the most undervalued resource in the United States. In the U.S., we don't actually pay for for water itself, but for the infrastructure, energy requirements, and maintenance of the water provision and treatment system.

Mr. Patel is quite correct about agricultural runoff from fertilizers into waterways which create hypoxia (oxygen-free dead zones in the water) that then feed into the Gulf of Mexico.

Thanks to Raj for his statement about the price of "free" trade. Somehow its advocates don't realize (or don't acknowledge) that a market dominated by a monopoly/oligopoly is no more free than one controlled by a gov't.

Raj Patel is a hero.

However one problem is trying to 'monetize' the full cost of things- money can be manipulated. A better system would be energy accounting, a system suggested by Howard Odum in the 1970s.

Also, how about the loss of property values in the vicinity of a CAFO that makes the cheap burger possible? Yet another 'externalized' cost.

So how much do the Indians calculate is the basic price of the birth of a a human being?

Cameron is uninformed! Brian, WHY do you let people ramble on with their ignorance? It would be one thing if you confronted their misinformation, but you simply allow them to keep talking. I think it's patronizing and subtly elitist for you not to confront misinformed callers.

I think this discussion assumes the free market approach generally establishes prices but argues that in some instances, the free market needs to be tweaked. i.e. cigarettes. We impose taxes on cigarettes to allegedly reduce demand. What about higher taxes on alcohol?

The real cost of a treat from the ice cream trucks that idle all day on our streets should take into account the exhaust that pollutes the air and causes asthma in the neighborhoods they're "serving", and the blaring music that lowers the quality of life in those neighborhoods. I'd say an ice cream cone should cost about $45.

OIL = US taxpayers support oil dictators to keep oil prices low

That last caller was one of the weakest ever. Totally clueless.

All you have to do is look at the grocery store shelves full of junk food all made from subsidized grains. Its no wonder the stuff is so cheap and that the country is suffering as a result from a health stand point.

t-shirts (clothes in general), but cotton t-shirts certainly must have a huge impact environmentally and in terms of labor.

this man speaks sense, I like it.

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