The Market's Answer to Animal Cruelty

The media is calming down its firestorm that it reigned down upon Atlanta quarterback, Michael Vick. The government prosecution had taken him to court on charges taken a great amount of time before he pleaded guilty. Yet who responded first?

The police found evidence of dog fighting in Michael Vick's home. The prosecution at that point began. Throughout the summer the court system carried on with protesters outside calling for Vick's own blood to be spilled. Yes, this was it what all people want, the government response.

Yet is the government punishing Vick for his actions? He has to pay a fee, face court time, has a jail sentence. No, I do not see the government as a punishment at all. The government in its will to punish Vick is actually saving him from his punishment. Yes the view point of society is that the government announces punishment, yet I say who responded first?

By the time the uproar of disgust arose around Vick's actions, Nike had canceled their deal, Reebok had canceled their deal, and the NFL had declared him ineligible to play. The market had retaliated. Call for blood if you like but it was his own wants that would drive his pain. The want to keep his home, the want for luxury goods, the want for hanging out at a club; they all cost money. Money he would begin to lose and his lifestyle would decline. Would Reebok, Nike, any other business give him a deal? Perhaps, when the public calms, but would the public calm if Vick were among the living? Or would the public be more calm as Vick is housed in a jail cell where our tax dollars pay for him to live leaving him to spend none of his own funds. In the jail cell, Vick is no longer in the view of the public giving them the opportunity to remember why they dislike him. Would anyone buy his jersey again? Probably, but no where near the amount that had before.

Yes, it was the Market not the Government who had first responded. While the government took its time in prosecution waiting for a chance to prove guilt, the market did not care and reacted with a swift hand. Sometimes the market over reacts, but blessed is the market and it adjusts giving more in return for the pain it had caused. Market vs Government is a clean shutout, or in tennis term 6 - love. Love for minimal government perhaps...