A popular and witty saying that I love: "Rob Mugabe before he robs you." I have a t-shirt to spread the wittiness.

These terrible economic policies aren't the worst of his presidency. He reigns through terror, and most Americans have never heard of him.

While I lived in South Africa, there was a lot of hatred towards Bush and the situation in Iraq, more so than here, at that time. However, the complaint that I heard more often than all the others was, "If Bush is going to take out Saddam, why doesn't he take out Mugabe as well?"

It really is a terrible situation there in Zim, but the UN will do nothing. Although other nations express their hatred, many of the Africans LOVE America and hope her good influence will spread, especially to Africa.

The only regulation government should do, and I say this with reservation, is to prevent industry-wide price fixing schemes. Other than that, it should step aside and let free-market forces take care of things.

The problem is that what is good for a free-market is not always what is good for a population. The government's job is to protect the population, not the market. Where there is no conflict, the government should not interfere, but sometimes a free-market can grow if it allows some part of the population to suffer, and then the government's responsibility to protect them should override the freedom of the market.

NO! Government is totally incapable of regulating anything, including itself, but especially the market. History has shown this over and over again. Zimbabwe is only the latest and most pronounced example of this.

The only regulation government should do, and I say this with reservation, is to prevent industry-wide price fixing schemes. Other than that, it should step aside and let free-market forces take care of things.

Government has a role to play in regulating the excesses of the market

This has been proven true throughout our history.

But the tendency is to do more harm than good.

This is generally untrue.

What is true is that when government acts on the behalf of corporate interests through subsidies and tax breaks then government does more harm than good.

Thankfully, our interference with the laws of supply and demand are relatively marginal and thus the damage is relatively contained.

You have obviously not seen the Farm bills for the past few decades!

I am not sure how apposite a comparison is between the US and Zimbabwe, but the feds give a HUGE subsidy to consumers through supports for basic crops.

Throwing $16 billion a year into agricultural subsidies is not what I would call "marginal."