Capitalism at Its Best

The Boston Globe Web site has a slide show of what it says are the 20 best ice cream stands in New England. This is the way capitalism is supposed to work. They compete against each other. Some of them are family-owned businesses, some of them are foreign-owned chains. None of them are run by the government. They innovate new flavors and compete on quality. New entrants can come in and challenge established institutions. There's amazing variety. And the politicians haven't yet stepped in to spoil the fun with taxes aimed at adverse health effects the way they did with cigarettes and will with soda. Yes, we know about the Northeast Dairy Compact. But still, it's a pretty robust market.