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The private sector is not expected to be able to self-regulate by free market advocates. With the exception of anarcho-capitalists, those who believe in a free
by ETH_start 3y ago
The private sector is not expected to be able to self-regulate by free market advocates. With the exception of anarcho-capitalists, those who believe in a free market regard the government's role as integral, in providing public goods like an effective justice system that polices misbehavior like fraud.
What distinguishes a belief in free markets is believing that misbehavior—that government bodies have a right to punish and prohibit—does not include mutually voluntary interactions, like selling high-risk financial instruments to willing customers, who according to a court, are deemed to have provided informed consent to those risks.
- OhMeadhbh 3y agoEvery time I see the phrase "free market" I like to point out the term originated from Adam Smith who used it to describe "markets free from rent-seeking behaviour." Which is COMPLETELY different than the way the phrase is used today. Also, "Capitalism" used to mean "using capital to increase capital." We now use it to mean "using capital to increase private wealth." I understand what you're trying to say and am not refuting it. I just think it's funny we let "bandits" [1] redefine the vocabulary of the social construction of commerce. 1. Obviously I do not mean to imply bankers are "bandits" in the classical sense. Not a single one of them went to jail in 2008. Were they bandits, they most certainly would have wound up in the hoosegow.
- ETH_start 3y agoAdam Smith was also an advocate of free markets as the term is defined today. Wealth of Nations is replete with moral objections to suppressing the right to freely contract—even to prevent combinations he found dangerous, like industy interests congregating—and praise for less interventionist government policies like low taxes, etc.