[piguy314]

It's valid to argue that systems which allocate resources based on political processes rather than market processes ARE in fact less efficient, with the caveat that government intervention can produce either positive or negative externalities (or both). This is why it's a good idea to have the government subsidize scientific research which is not imminently monetizable (positive externality) but it's a bad idea to use the government to enforce domain monopolies (credentialism, cartelism, negative externality).