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Define “free”. Most modern Asian capitalist economies have never been very “free” in the American sense of “free market”. They’ve always been heavily guided by
by dimal 3y ago
Define “free”. Most modern Asian capitalist economies have never been very “free” in the American sense of “free market”. They’ve always been heavily guided by government policy.
I think the most productive eras are really when everyone is picking low-hanging fruit. And the low-hanging fruit only seems so low because there’s been a burst of newly available mechanical technology. Then everything is picked clean, productivity drops, and the economy shifts to prioritizing useless consumption.
- WalterBright 3y ago"The free market is an economic system based on supply and demand with little or no government control. One of the central principles of a free market is the concept of voluntary exchange, which is defined as any transaction in which two parties freely trade goods or services." -- google "free market"
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- thefaux 3y agoVoluntary is carrying a lot of weight there. Do we voluntarily trade money for bread or freely choose starving as an alternative? What is to prevent those who control the bread from coercively taking every penny you have? A free market without government control is an adolescent fever dream. Nothing like it has ever existed or ever will. The question is not whether there will be government control, it is how much?
- WalterBright 3y agoThe purpose of government in a free market is to prevent use of force & fraud in transactions, and to enforce contracts and property rights. > Nothing like it has ever existed or ever will. The free North in the US.