Proof that rational self-interest market maximization is a myth This has gone on for years already, more than enough time for necessary corrections to have been made. But now a cable network, Fox News, has surpassed viewership totals ( for election coverage ) not only for cable rival CNN, which it did at least 5 years ago, but also each of the "established" major networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS. Hearing Tom Friedman on the Charlie Rose show on PBS brought this home even if the idea has been in my mind for a couple of days. Friedman went into a rant about "hate-filled" defamatory Fox, the kind of diatribe I have heard many times before, all, it seems clear, from men or women who never watch Fox, and presumably because it is verboten to do so among a certain class of people. To admit any such thing, even occasional Fox viewing, would, if this is correct, bring about one's ostracism from "people who matter." In any case, whatever the motivation, there are opinion makers who damn Fox yet who don't watch Fox, and, accordingly, are in no position to know. They literally don't know what they are talking about. They are clueless about even the best and most objective news analysis show on TV, Fox's Special Report with Bret Baier. This is only the first irrationality, and it is serious because it highlights what many others already take notice of, these people have no credibility when it comes to Fox News. This being the case, their credibility can be questioned in other areas. Again, since I do watch Fox, I freely admit that some Fox features make me want to heave my guts, Hannity more often than not --despite the high powered guests he is able to host because of his ratings, Glenn Beck because his blowhard style really puts me off, and because of some major issues, Sheppard Smith, who is about as lightweight as any news anchor can get, and so forth..But I also watch CNN now and then and can report that its news shows are, by and large, much worse. The Political Correctness views of most of CNN's hosts are overwhelming, it is so bad that it is a textbook case of ideological broadcasting, at least as biased toward the Left as Hannity is biased toward the Right. But Hannity, unless you count Beck, who is actually a libertarian and doesn't always line up with the Right, is the only Fox anchor who is completely overboard. The equivalent for Hannity on the Left is normative on CNN. Yet Fox is vilified for its bias and CNN is often held up as a model of equity. So you can see the problem. And , just a passing comment, compared with MSNBC, CNN is positively 100% balanced and objective. Given these facts, with MSNBC in the basement, CNN only a few hundred thousand viewers more popular than MSNBC, with Fox outperforming ALL of its rivals, about 2 : 1 or 3 : 1 over CNN, more than that over MSNBC, and now edging ahead of the major networks --despite the nets existing on channels 2, 5 and 7, or some other single digits depending on location, with Fox on channel 39 or 54 or whatever -- you'd think that the competition would get the message. You would think that Fox would no longer be the only mostly conservative news network on TV. You would think that market self-interest rationalization would be well under way by now But there is no sign of any such thing. In fact, while this is subjective, if anything it seems as if the other networks have turned further Left, with the only changes to observe being cosmetic. No way for me to know if this will persist, but as of now, more than 5 years since Fox became the # 1 rated cable news service, things are what they are. Which is to say that rational market optimization is a myth. Yes, it sometimes does happen. But there is ZERO guarantee that it always will, and a similar pattern of non-optimization can be seen ( at least until very recently ) in autos, real estate, and a variety of mega-corporations like BP. You can argue about BP that is was very good at profit optimization but, of course, it had the poorest safety record in its industry prior to the Gulf spill and it was only a matter of time before there was a disaster, which is anything but rational optimization. There is a near identical story in the coal industry. The exceptions to rational optimization are HUGE, in other words, anything but minor footnotes. The theory on which laissez-faire rests is demonstrably false. Case closed. Billy Rojas
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