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> Free trade is just one aspect of a free market. This is wildly misleading. Free trade in the 21st century generally refers to trade across national boundarie

> Free trade is just one aspect of a free market. This is wildly misleading. Free trade in the 21st century generally refers to trade across national boundaries. Nations represent markets that are not subject to the same basic conditions as each other. Moreover, free trade (the international kind) almost always seems to involve a lack of restriction on the movement of goods, capital and profit, but rarely allows labor the same benefit. The 21st century version of "free trade" is about expanding the scope and scale of capital markets and the movement of goods and profits across national (and thus market-jurisdictional and -conditional) boundaries. It has almost nothing to with the "old" notion of free trade within a given market.

WalterBright 2y ago
Do you know that the Constitution set up a "free trade zone" among the states? And it works great, too! > It has almost nothing to with the "old" notion of free trade within a given market. The Law of Supply and Demand has never changed, and never will.
- PaulDavisThe1st 2y ago
  The constitution also sets up free movement of labor among states. It works great too! "The Law of Supply and Demand" was unknown to the Romans or various middle Eastern empires (just two examples), whose economies worked in entirely different ways from those that followed the mercantilist period in Europe, and became canonized by Smith et al.
  - WalterBright 2y ago
    > "The Law of Supply and Demand" was unknown to the Romans So was the law of gravity, but gravity still ruled their lives. > whose economies worked in entirely different ways The Law of Supply and Demand applies to all economic systems.
    - PaulDavisThe1st 2y ago
      > So was the law of gravity, but gravity still ruled their lives. I expected a better response from you. > The Law of Supply and Demand applies to all economic systems. False. Well, false for some well known versions of whatever "the law of supply and demand" is. There are all kinds of reasons why the retail cost of goods are not an inverse linear function of their supply; ditto for the retail cost of labor. Why do you feel this need to reduce complex systems to vapid platitudes?

WalterBright 2y ago

Do you know that the Constitution set up a "free trade zone" among the states? And it works great, too! > It has almost nothing to with the "old" notion of free trade within a given market. The Law of Supply and Demand has never changed, and never will.

PaulDavisThe1st 2y ago
The constitution also sets up free movement of labor among states. It works great too! "The Law of Supply and Demand" was unknown to the Romans or various middle Eastern empires (just two examples), whose economies worked in entirely different ways from those that followed the mercantilist period in Europe, and became canonized by Smith et al.
- WalterBright 2y ago
  > "The Law of Supply and Demand" was unknown to the Romans So was the law of gravity, but gravity still ruled their lives. > whose economies worked in entirely different ways The Law of Supply and Demand applies to all economic systems.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 2y ago
    > So was the law of gravity, but gravity still ruled their lives. I expected a better response from you. > The Law of Supply and Demand applies to all economic systems. False. Well, false for some well known versions of whatever "the law of supply and demand" is. There are all kinds of reasons why the retail cost of goods are not an inverse linear function of their supply; ditto for the retail cost of labor. Why do you feel this need to reduce complex systems to vapid platitudes?