Rob Murphy

I think 24 Hour gets people hooked with contracts. Then, they just charge the monthly fees whether that person uses the club or not. Customer service is not a priority, nor is upkeep on the equipment. I think there are tons of people out there obliviously paying monthly fees and not even using the gym. I stay because I love the group fitness instructors. And, they have day care, which is a must. Otherwise, I would be happy to switch to a rec center or another club. Lifetime Fitness is pretty swanky.

I personally wonder how a lot of companies stay in business: fast food, smoke shops, liquor industry, gambling industry, Hollywood, fitness clubs, GPS running watch manufacturers, to name a few - I never give them any money :-)

More seriously speaking, free market succeeds to the extent that the people are moral. For an illustration, think of a good running competition. We train as hard as we can, we race each other with the idea to find out who is the best, and for everyone to do their best. As a result, everybody is as fit as they can be. Now imagine a race where everybody trips and punches each other, takes short cuts, arranges with a conspirator to prevent the competition from starting, etc. Now the idea of a race is completely ruined and the true fitness declines (except maybe runners now become better boxers :-) ). So it is with the free market and the private sector. If people are not committed deep down to reaching true excellence in whatever they do, the fallout is a weak economy regardless of what rules they race under, even if it is the American-style free market.

The free market works as people are moral and also immoral. So the smokeshops and liquor stores do good business in service to people's needs, which are sometimes moral and sometimes not.

But I agree Sasha that good business in the long run is a moral endeavor, treating people well, following laws, choosing longevity over impulse serves a company and gov't and individual well.

All economic systems can work on paper and have value. All economic systems break down when you put people in the equation and greed enters and character and morals are corrupted. A "me first" attitude will corrupt capitalism, socialism and communism equally.