The Invisible Hand

I voted for the Greens, reluctantly, but I did it. I don't really regret it, I have very low standards for the people I vote for, Sue Bradford's youth rates bill is enough in this case. But Frogblog is doing their best to make me change my mind. This was their comment on increased petrol prices:

Well, petrol is at a record high today, as I’m sure you are all aware, but one person welcoming the news is hybrid car dealer Stephen Pollard, who is featured in this Herald story.

David Farrar is holding this up as an example of how the invisible hand of the market always works. I’m glad to hear that he’s thinking about buying a hybrid (he could also consider a Honda Jazz like Jeanette and Sue B, which is equally efficient), but I’d like to contest his implication that the market works and that everything will come out in the wash.

He’d be correct if all the true costs of goods and services - including environmental costs, food miles, carbon impact, greenhouse emissions and so on - were included in their price, but for most consumer good this is not the case, which has allowed market forces to wreak environmental havoc.

So lets get this straight, the reason that we have pollution is because there are things we haven't privatised yet? The only reason the market doesn't work is because it doesn't take the true cost of pollution into account?

You know what I thought about when I saw that petrol went up again? It wasn't about hybrid cars, or the free-hand of the market. It was about everyone who has to drive to work (or anywhere else), and who can't afford a hybrid car, or any other sort of new car, and what a strain this would put on their budget.