Reflection Paper on The Yes Men Fix the World

2. Government regulation of the free market is important to the country because it

provides limits and boundaries that are placed out for everyone to follow. This,
supposedly, is for just and fair circulation of money around the country. This is also so
that no company can overprice whatever they are selling, which means buyers will get
what their money is really worth and not feel ripped-off; and no company can underprice
whatever they are selling, which is so that employees will not get underpaid and will get
enough rightful salary to take home (especially since there are many factories and firms
that do not pay their employees enough or at all). This is looking at things for the sake of
both sides (perspective of both households and firms). The government supposedly can
decide properly whether the price for a certain good or service is affordable for the
average citizen yet not too low that the company does not profit anymore.
Sometimes, though the government is supposed to take care of its citizens of all classes,
the government has bad skills in organizing and prioritizing. This is why many people
complain because they do not know where their money is going. The government gets so
much taxes from us and yet we cannot really see it put to good use. Some people just do
not know how to manage money sometimes and this is why some countries are stuck
and do not progress, they (we) are trapped as third world countries that do not grow and
advance. We are behind the rest of the world. At times, the government tends to be
corrupt or they are biased and do not have equal hearts or understanding for the people
of the country and we only realize it when it is too late. Through this, we can see how
inefficient the government is like in the movie when they decide to only rebuild and
renovate a portion of the damaged houses after hurricane Katrina. They are not thinking
about the rest of the people who were gravely affected. What do they think will happen?
Will they just leave them out to die? And if lots of them do sustain their lives, don’t they
think it is going to affect the whole country? Homeless people will be wandering around
and begging for food and money – I don’t think that’s a nice new thing to be excited about.
Not fixing the first problem will just lead to another bigger and long term problem. I
understand that they didn’t do it on purpose since it was out of their control. The after
effect of natural calamities is undoubtedly difficult and expensive to repair, but it doesn’t
mean that it’s impossible. It may take a lot of money and time, but it is possible if organized
properly. They shouldn’t have created a limit so early on. And even years after the
hurricane, they could have continued the rebuilding of houses to provide for other families.
The prank the Yes Men did was definitely foul and embarrassing to the government but
I’m sure it opened up the eyes of many and gave hope (maybe false hope) to many too.
This doesn’t mean that the market is freed of government interference because though a
number of people do transactions under the black market, the government still can
sanction those who are caught doing illegal transactions. Even though the government
may sometimes be foolish with their decisions and actions, there will for sure be times
when they think about the betterment of the citizens and the country.