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People often confuse “free” with “fair”.
by dpark 7mo ago
People often confuse “free” with “fair”.
- altairprime 7mo agoPeople often confuse “free” with “unregulated”, too.
- readthenotes1 7mo agoMy understanding of the definition of a "free" market is it would have almost no external regulation. However, a "unregulated free market" is nearly impossible--somw player will eventually drive out competition to maximize profits and some will not be troubled at harming or killing their customers in the name of immediate profit (tobacco, sugared drinks, talc powder, and round-up come to mind immediately but the list is very long). Is market with enough regulations to ensure competitiveness and transaction transparency (including long-term consequences) truly "free"?
- GTP 7mo agoIndeed, the market shouldn't be, and is not, entirely free. We should strive for the right balance between freedom and regulation.
- acdha 7mo agoIt comes down to what’s “free”: most people want that to mean freedom of choice for buyers but sellers want that to mean freedom from restrictions. Trying to balance the two depends critically on regulation because it’s too easy for larger players to reduce the choices for everyone else.
- altairprime 7mo agoOne popular desire is common, but not universal, in both groups: the freedom to lie, cheat, swindle those party to a transaction without consequence. It may help to consider that ‘the consequences of one’s actions’, such as lying or cheating in the above case, are viewed by many as a violation of their personal freedom from persecution (e.g. “it’s not my fault you didn’t stop me from conning you”); that extends to their participation in trade as well. I assume that the pools of either corporate entities and/or their leadership cogs have a much higher percentage of adherence to said belief than the general pool of either buyers and/or sellers excluding such, as the corporate implementation of liability shielding exists specifically to sate this need.
- adi_kurian 7mo agoNo they don't. That is the very definition.
- bigbadfeline 7mo ago>> People often confuse “free” with “unregulated”, too. >No they don't. That is the very definition. Using that definition amounts to classifying all real markets as non-free. Unregulated markets cannot exists in reality or in a sound theory, only in wishy-washy fairy tales.
- adi_kurian 7mo agoI'm not recommending we build a frictionless plane, I'm just saying it doesn't have friction. This is the most politely I've ever been called a libertarian.
- altairprime 7mo agoSure they do. People often confuse the definition of a platonic ideal with the realities of implementation, and few are versed enough to both comprehend the literal dictionary definitions of “free” having a fork that one can choose to take to “unregulated” and to recognize that the phrase “free market” is imprecise. One either means “a market free of regulations”, or “a market free of adversarial interference by buyers or sellers”, or “a market free of reputational restrictions”, etc. That you’re correct in identifying a dictionary binding from the definition to the interpretation you give precedence when the imprecise form “free market” is used, does not negate the correctness of others preferring their own interpretations for equally valid reasons. Thus my point: confusion occurs, because “free” is inherently a contextual claim whose eventual outcome-branch (in your case, unregulated) is more often than not subject to individual bias and belief rather than singular societal meanings. Not to mention, that definitions shift over time. Or that claiming the definition to mean “unregulated” to the exclusion of all other meanings is a form of propaganda-slash-evangelism (and so, duly noted in cad you were unaware, as it can be received quite poorly). Or that “fair” is similarly misinterpretable for the same reasons: I prefer fair markets because I can eat cotton candy and listen to people screaming on the rides as I consider each booth’s offerings - and my interpretation of that statement is, in at least two communities I used to work in, the most contextually appropriate take on it! (AI, of course, can’t keep up with that usage, which is honestly a plus in favor of it, but for the ESL folks trying to figure out what I mean, fair → faire / carnival / festival.)