Hold up, there are two very different kinds of "free" that pop up, from mutually incompatible ends of a spectrum. In the first, it's a "free" market because ev

Hold up, there are two very different kinds of "free" that pop up, from mutually incompatible ends of a spectrum. In the first, it's a "free" market because everything moves smoothly and efficiently in ways that make economic mathematicians happy. There's perfect information, all transactions and prices and actor-identities are are known, and it's generally assumed there are no monopolies or monopsonies. In the second, individual actors are "free" to construct secret deals with special secret prices, non-disclosure agreements, act anonymously through proxies, etc. At least in US politics, the equivocation is common: Someone appeals to the benefits of the first, while promoting the contradictory mechanics of the second.