In fact it's quite efficient, as the feedback time between when the signal is sent from the consumer to when it is received by the producer is very short compar

In fact it's quite efficient, as the feedback time between when the signal is sent from the consumer to when it is received by the producer is very short compared to political systems. Revealed preferences also show that what people say they want and what they actually want can be quantified very precisely using money as a proxy. And more generally, the vast majority of consumers show they prefer low prices over all other things, including priced in externalities, bad labor and management practices, unsustainable production etc... More recently however (~100 years) the advertising and marketing industry has shown that preference hijacking is a real thing, so markets are skewed in this way.