Post
Topic
Board Economics
Re: What does a Free Market mean to you?
by
kokjo
on 09/08/2011, 09:51:49 UTC
"Free market" means no person or group has the right to force any other person or group to make any economic decision.  This leaves room for government involvement in a very narrow field - namely contract enforcement and theft and violence prevention/prosecution.

In practice, this would have a few key features:
- No minimum wage
- No taxation of trade or income
- No import/export restrictions
- No central control of monetary systems, no central bank
- No FDIC
- No "consumer safety regulations"
- No building codes
- No FDA
- No prohibition of substances
- No prohibition of voluntary action (incl. gambling and prostitution, etc.)

The United States of America is not even close to a "free market." It is a socialist/corporatist nation, not a capitalist nation (the fact that it's not as socialist as other places doesn't make it capitalist). 

Finally i can build my own nuclear plant full of plutonium rods and then blow it up.

Game over mankind.
just beacuse you have a free market, does not mean that you have the skills to build a nuclear bomb