I picked up a new vice a month ago: homemade espresso. Of course, to enjoy this delight, I first had to purchase an espresso machine. Like almost every product on the market, a wide range of espresso machines is available. A simple online search reveals prices ranging from $29.99 to well over $1000. As a certified cheapo, I spent just a little over 30 bucks and began pouring cups of foamy sunshine.
Now, the connoisseurs out there are going to smirk, "That's not espresso. In order to sip the real stuff, you need a machine that has features x, y, and z." Certainly, my faux espresso is not the same as that served to the Parisian, yet when balanced against other wants that are still chasing scarce resources, my investment suits me just fine.
Now, suppose that you are the connoisseur who believes that espresso must be served to the taste of the sophisticated Frenchman. Anything less is substandard and wasteful, if not immoral. Yet the evil entrepreneur will take advantage of simpletons such as me; those not as wise as the connoisseur. To think, someone is actually selling a machine that does not generate sufficient pressure, produces water outside the preferred temperature, and whose crema (reddish-brown foam) sinks rather than floats.
You as the connoisseur, and I as the cheapo, simply disagree. Our preferences differ yet go satisfied in the free market.
Herein lies the contrast between the free market and interventionism. I simply want to enjoy affordable espresso. Nothing fancy, just a little flavor and lots of kick. Absent regulations, the market is there to satisfy. Add the "expert" into the mix, and now I'm forgoing my morning cup because the product I want to buy, and the product an entrepreneur is willing to produce, do not meet some arbitrary standard.
Arbitrary standards are the product of government. Whether in education or automobiles, the politician and bureaucrat create silly standards that satisfy some political or personal agenda; standards that fail to satisfy the desires of the consumer.
Sure, to the connoisseur, I've been ripped off, and to the regulator — the politician and bureaucrat, I'm in need of protection. Yet, I enjoy this fraud every morning, and on the occasional weekend afternoon.
