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Comment by rhizome | Hacker News Reader

Sure: government will always be two-faced with respect to "free" markets, interfering where it suits their and/or their friends/benefactors' interests, or not, as the case may be. It has been this way for centuries, Adam Smith just added to the lexicon of rationales.

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Well, in what way was Apple the government's friend or benefactor?

Honestly, is that a serious question? Do you have no concept of what I'm describing such that I'm required to list these things out?

Pretty much all Apple hardware is made in China, which makes the company an instrument of foreign policy. That's one aspect.

Dude, you're being more than a little bit of a dick. I'm ignorant of government policy and politics in general, and it's only recently that I've begun rectifying that.

Yes, it was a simple, straightforward query for information that I lack. And you hardly answered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_interventionism

You know what. I'm outta here for awhile. It's people like you that make me depressed to read HN or try to be involved. The guidelines even say "if you wouldn't say it to their face, then don't say it." Yet you were such an asshole to me right there without even an apology. That would've been okay if I had received an actual answer to my question, but instead I got a context-free link to a Wikipedia article with no way to interpret the complexities of how it relates to the issue at hand. The result is an unhelpful, unhealthy, negative state of mind. And that would be okay if I actually learned something from the experience. But the only thing I've learned from this is that you personally attack and belittle anyone who doesn't know the same things you know.

I'm pretty sure that's not the case, but I appreciate your perspective.

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