Letters to the Editor
-
@logicalresponse
"I agree totally with what you say here Andrew. Another way to say it is that libertarian economists don't understand that people gathering together to give themselves an edge is PART OF THE FREE MARKET."
Exactly. Free market libertarians fail to see beyond dollar profit. There's also opportunity cost, moral capital, the marketplace of the common good, etc. They like to pretend these things are abstractions but they are very real.
Everyone, from the company owner to the homeless guys, is a market participant. And if you refuse to recognize the realities of the entire market, rather than the part you profit from, it may arrange to force you to do so and this will be the correct outcome.
If a company or class of merchants fails to take care of it's ethical and social expenses, riots, revolution or just harsh regulation are they way they end up paying the costs they've incurred.
Ultimately the market is never free.