What free markets are all about
Ryan | 2 08 2007If you're a first time visitor, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed, which will keep you up to date with all the latest New School Politics posts. Thanks for visiting!
In a recent article Walter Williams gives a working definition, as well as some elaboration, of free markets:
Free markets are simply millions upon millions of individual decision-makers, engaged in peaceable, voluntary exchange pursuing what they see in their best interests. People who denounce the free market and voluntary exchange, and are for control and coercion, believe they have more intelligence and superior wisdom to the masses. What’s more, they believe they’ve been ordained to forcibly impose that wisdom on the rest of us. Of course, they have what they consider good reasons for doing so, but every tyrant that has ever existed has had what he believed were good reasons for restricting the liberty of others.
I disagree with one point: a free market need not be of “millions and millions”, in any case that there exists more than one there is a market. (A great example of a free market I think would be elementry school kids bartering different foods at lunch without being encumbered by teachers or administrators, and that certainly does not consist of millions).
Everything else Williams says is also very true, but it is something that so many who are against a completely free market will not admit. Simply, if you believe in a particular way that the government should intervene in the economy (price controls, regulations, etc.) then you believe that you (or the government) can make decisions for all people better than every individual can make as the choice pertains to them.
Lets see if what I have to say holds up…comments anyone?!
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The free market is always superior to top down government
Ron Holland | 2 08 2007The free market is always superior to top down government and political actions.
The Free Market Hall of Fame has been established so freedom lovers will have the opportunity to initially vote on individuals contributing the most to free market economics including academic economists, journalists and writers, business leaders, legislators and government officials and think tanks.
Nominations for the Free-Market Hall of Fame are open to the public and can be made by anyone by e-mailing ron@freedomfest.com Individuals can vote for or nominate individuals who they believe should be in the Free Market Hall of Fame. Write-ins are permitted.
For more infor on the Free Market Hall of Fame go to http://www.freedomfest.com/hofhome.htm
Ron Holland, Editor
FreedomFest News http://www.freedomfest.com/news.htm
I wholly support the free market with zero government restrictions.
Arthus Erea | 2 08 2007I wholly support the free market with zero government restrictions. The wisdom of the crowds is always better than that of an individual making choices for the whole community. Wikipedia and user generated media is an excellent example of this. While individual articles may have problems, the average article has far fewer errors than the average article in most print encyclopedias… which have a slow editing process and frequently suffer from outdated facts.
Interesting example of schools as a small free market… if only it were true. Schools are some of the most government controlled/i’m smarter than you/do what I say places in the entire community. It would be interesting to see a free market school: zero teacher intervention in classes, selling, everything. (Feel free to skip class… but just know that you might miss something important. Not our problem - just yours)