Letter to the Editor: Inexhaustible demand
BY Michael Lock, Tulsa
Sunday, October 07, 2012
Recently, Steve Young, Hall of
Fame quarterback of ESPN, was
quoted as saying the NFL’s prolonged
use of substandard officials
was possible because of the “inelastic”
nature of demand for football.
His meaning is that football is such
an inherent part of national culture
that demand for it is unlimited.
The fans will always buy tickets
and anything remotely team related.
There then exists an inexhaustible
demand for NFL football. What an
excellent illustration of how large
monopolistic businesses behave in
a free market, with profit their only
goal.
Now consider the debate over repealing
Obamacare, and returning
to allowing the market — a few large
insurance companies — to dictate
the availability of health care. With
health care, as in football, demand
for services is unlimited. In football
and health care one way to improve
profit is by providing a cheaper,
shoddy service — the needs of your
fan or customer being ignored.
In a situation where demand is
unlimited and supply artificially
constricted, the principles and forces
of a free market no longer apply
and the resulting impact is always
to enrich the few at the cost of the
many.
When it is football that is one
thing; when it is the health and
well-being of the nation, that is
quite another. Steve Young: Hall of
Fame economist.
Letters to the editor are encouraged. Send letters to letters@tulsaworld.com.
