Free Market, my ass.

For the last two years I have attempted to land a spot as a community columnist for the Milwaukee Journal and have been rejected both times. At first I blamed my poor writing skills. Then I blamed my category as a white man when they were looking for a diverse group. Both of these seemed totally acceptable to me. Sure I wrote a great piece about the how stupid the death penalty and they picked a guy who stated that people who would/should receive the death penalty are routinely let out of prison.
I think though after years of reading the columnists I have figured out one must have to do, and I am going to call them out this year when I try again. The one column they print every single year is a column attacking atheists, around 5% of the population, as being unethical and having no morals. One guy actually argued that atheists should go around and murder because they have no book telling them it is wrong. If the topic isn't on the depravity of non-Christians then you must write a column filled with logical fallacies like the one a couple of days ago. The use of the logical fallacy, begging the question so pissed me off I had to respond. I decided I would share it with people and her response.

I was reading your column in Thursday's paper and I came upon an interesting statement. You say, "Salaries, in a free market, are set by supply and demand" which I find interesting. You are said to be the business and economics chair of a local university so surely you can't really call America a free market. I believe you are purposely lying to people to advance your ideology. How can the chair of economics call our economy a free market? Is it a free market when we bailed out Lockheed and Chrysler? My father lost his job because his boss at his saving and loans gave out shotty loans and we bailed out the SnLs but
not the workers. Some estimates put the figure at half a trillion dollars. How does this jive with your fake free market? How about the 14 billion dollar bailout of the airlines after 9/11? How does that fit into your psueso-free market. What about subsidies to the oil industries? How is that a free market? What about all the programs for returning GIs from WWII? Was that that free market at work? With just these few simple examples it is obvious, to even a non-chair of economics, that we do not live in a free market. At best we live in a coporate socialist state with free markets for the citizen. Give out bad loans and the tax payer will bail you out, take a bad loan and you lose your house. Socialism for the rich and free markets for the poor.
I have no problem with peole being ideological but they should not be deceptive. If they are deceptive then it makes one wonder how good their arguments are.
Don't lie to the people. A chair of economics should know better.
Justin Loper


Her response:
Hello:
While we do not agree, thanks for responding.
Barbara

Really that is it. I call her a liar and she says she disagrees. She cares that much to get her beliefs out there but can not defend them? Truly sad. Not what I would expect from a chair of economics unless she studied under Dershowitz at Harvard.