I could be wrong about the definition of a free market, but the main one on Wikipedia seems to align with my perception of it: >>In economics, a free market is

I could be wrong about the definition of a free market, but the main one on Wikipedia seems to align with my perception of it: >>In economics, a free market is a system in which the prices for goods and services are determined by the open market and by consumers. In a free market, the laws and forces of supply and demand are free from any intervention by a government or other authority and from all forms of economic privilege, monopolies and artificial scarcities. Note "are free from any intervention by a government or other authority" which conforms with my argument that it's a market where the market choices of agents are not constrained by the coercive intervention of other agents. Other agents being the "government or other authority" referred to, and the "authority" alluding to an agent which exercises coercive power over others. >>Humans have reached this state due to government-sponsored research and sponsored application of revolutionary new technologies. In the US, since the founding of the country, it has been a very market-based sector, with government's most fruitful contributions being in basic research, as opposed to market inhibiting interventions like regulations. That would be like the government funding basic research in healthcare, and leaving everything else mostly to people's free choices in the market. The first places in the world where famine was vanquished were ones with heavily private agricultural sectors with strong contract and private property rights, in Western Europe and North America. >>I would argue that it is indeed possible to exit the food market - we can grow our own food! Even a small-ish farm with good practices can feed a family for a year or more using wild seeds, natural compost and herbicides alone. Most people cannot grow enough food to feed themselves. Saying we can exit the food market because we can grow our own food is like saying we can exit the healthcare sector because we can provide our own medical products/services. We can technically, but practically the vast majority would have a much lower quality of care if they did so.