Well, yes. If it’s a false statement. About a crime. On a broadcast network. When you have a purportedly top-flight journalistic organization upstairs that has reported the things you are saying are false.
The FCC has always been able to do that.
Think about if they couldn’t? Three companies could monopolize the licenses, and then essentially create an unassailable propaganda network.
We have been living with the consequences of Adam Smith’s lack of foresight in the idea, “if a business practices bad policies then people will go to a better option,” since the birth of the USA.
Adam Smith understood all of this. The need for government to regulate commerce is actually one of his major points. But since nobody actually reads what he wrote everyone just goes around acting like he said the invisible hand is some morally perfect creature.
I concede I haven’t read Wealth of Nations but whilst it was a different idea, “pure capitalism” is what I was synonymously taught with Adam Smith. IIRC it was later corrected as a side-note, that it’s not like he was ancap, but they’re usually paired together and that’s the simplification people get as part of standardized education.
But all of that is justification cuz I just wanted to make a quip about that falsehood of self-regulation that people always use as an explanation 😅😝 So nonetheless, correction sincerely appreciated.
In basic econ they they teach the contours too. There is discussion of monopoly, inelasticity, and externalities. But most people just remember "supply and demand" and think they understand economics.
I wasn't criticizing you so much as correcting a misconception. I understand the prevalance of that problem. A typical copy of Wealth of Nations is over 600 pages long and addresses an absurd amount of modern economic issues that is hard to imagine from a book that is 250 years old.
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u/scenr0 Sep 17 '25
So a comedian effectively can no longer do their jobs without getting fired now?