[A] great embarrassing fact [that] haunts all attempts to represent the market as the highest form of human freedom: that historically, impersonal, commercial markets originate in theft.”
David Graeber
#FreeMarkets
🕰️ Fresh calendar, same old lie. They say markets are free. They never were. Law writes the rules, the state prints the money, and power fills the gaps. Strip the scaffolding and you do not get freedom. You get monopoly, muscle, and silence. 2026 is about staring that down.
What is labeled “overregulation” increasingly resembles regulatory absence: capture, opacity, non-payment, and selective enforcement.
#FreeMarkets https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/01/there-are-no-free-markets.html
😬😓:
“Adam Smith Is Misinterpreted And His Influence Overstated”, The Economist (https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2025/12/18/adam-smith-is-misinterpreted-and-his-influence-overstated or https://archive.is/hQpRa).
#Economics #Capitalism #FreeMarkets #AdamSmith #TheWealthOfNations #Legacy #Books #InvisibleHand
"In this book, Sidney Dekker sets out to identify the market mechanisms that explain how less government paradoxically leads to greater compliance burdens. This book gives shape and substance to a suspicion that has become widespread among workers in almost every industry: we have to follow more rules than ever-and still, things can go spectacularly wrong."
https://sidneydekker.com/compliance-capitalism
#HatTip to @dtauvdiodr for the reference.
#FreeTrade #FreeMarkets #neoliberalism #corporatism #SidneyDekker
ICYMI - PERRY: City lawmakers snubbing free market system in Aurora is bad business
‘The truth is simple. Businesses don’t create blight. Blight creates business conditions’
ICYMI - PERRY: City lawmakers snubbing free market system in Aurora is bad business
‘The truth is simple. Businesses don’t create blight. Blight creates business conditions’
PERRY: City lawmakers snubbing free market system in Aurora is bad business
'The truth is simple. Businesses don’t create blight. Blight creates business conditions'
PERRY: City lawmakers snubbing free market system in Aurora is bad business
'The truth is simple. Businesses don’t create blight. Blight creates business conditions'
Licensing boards are legalized cartels:
https://reason.com/2025/10/07/licensing-boards-are-legalized-cartels/
Our choice is not between free markets and state control, for most adults spend their working lives controlled by a third thing entirely: private government.
https://www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/soapbox/2019/05/private-government
#FreeMarkets #StateControl #PrivateGovernment #FacilitatingConnection
Ever wondered if libertarians are really radical revolutionaries or just comfy "house cats" enjoying the warmth of society's stove? 🤔 This blog post unpacks the fascinating, often contradictory core of the libertarian idea and its relationship with liberalism. Discover how the pursuit of individual liberty might inadvertently undermine the very foundations it relies upon. A must-read for anyone interested in politics, economics, and the true meaning of freedom! #Libertarianism #Liberalism #IndividualLiberty #FreeMarkets #PoliticalPhilosophy #individual #liberty #limited #government #free #markets #classical #liberalism #economic #freedom #social #justice #governmentintervention #ChicagoSchool #Pinochet #societal #structures #paradoxofliberty #freedom #fairness
https://medium.com/@fneuhaus/the-contradictory-core-of-the-libertarian-idea-6cc4c2d878e6
https://medium.com/@fneuhaus/the-contradictory-core-of-the-libertarian-idea-6cc4c2d878e6
Our choice is not between free markets and state control, for most adults spend their working lives controlled by a third thing entirely: private government.
https://www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/soapbox/2019/05/private-government
#FreeMarkets #StateControl #PrivateGovernment #FacilitatingConnection
Free Markets vs. Bureaucrats - Michael Saylor with Balaji
By Word of Mouse
A good breakdown of Capitalism and our GDP Dollar.
#Liberty #FreeMarkets #Freedom #Capitalism
US inflation reaches 2.7% as Trump tariffs hit https://www.ft.com/content/65b1fb44-6391-4f74-82db-2d7eb6aaafa9
hmm. latest US report shows inflation is being pushed up by tarrifs. wasn’t inflation to be done on day one???????????????????????????????????????#liars #economicbaffoons #freemarkets
“Asked about people putting bumper stickers on their #Teslas declaring they bought it before “Elon was crazy”, Musk said: “There are also people buying it because Elon’s crazy, or however they may view it. Yes, we’ve lost some sales, perhaps, on the left, but we’ve gained them on the right.”
Musk was *visibly shaken* when discussing the #activists’ campaign against him and his cars, saying they were “evil” and on the wrong side of history.
“What’s wrong with these people? *I’ve not harmed anyone*. So, something needs to be done about them. *A number of them are going to prison*, and they deserve it.” Asked whether he took the attacks #personally, he said: “Yes.”
Free market forces in action ☺️
#Smith / #Markets / #FreeMarkets / #competition <https://archive.md/YGhkg> / <https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/bruised-and-angry-elon-musk-says-he-will-cut-back-on-political-spending-20250521-p5m0vm.html> (paywall)
A boldly misguided idea
If the assignment was to come up with a novel idea Thomas Foley gets an A but if the assignment was to come up with an idea to improve economic equity within society his idea is worse than doing nothing and far worse than ideas such as the Freedom Dividend that Andrew Yang proposed several years ago.
#BasicIncome #economics #freeMarkets #innovation #UBI
http://visionary.davidjmiller.org/2025/a-boldly-misguided-idea/
"it's pollution in our lungs & exploitation of people & burning of the planet & degradation of civil society"
Economists refer to these as "externalities"... often not hidden (air pollution in LA is pretty obvious) as much as unaccounted for...
"Externalities often occur when the production or consumption of a product or service's private price equilibrium cannot reflect the true costs or benefits of that product or service for society as a whole.... since resources can be better allocated, externalities are an example of market failure."
👉 #MarketFailure 👈 is the key concept. So called #FreeMarkets are often incomplete, because not all of the #StakeHolders are at the bargaining table.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality
Even the oft quoted-out-of-context "libertarian" economist #FriedrichHayek allowed that there were some areas of economic activity that could not be addressed by free or open markets... #publichealth and #pollution to name just two.
[Graphic is from an article by Patrick Miner et al 2024.]
An explosion, when regulated, becomes an engine. The same is true of markets.
An explosion, unregulated, is a weapon of mass destruction. The same is true of markets.
When Adam Smith talked about "free markets", he meant free of economic rents (paying people to own things), not free of regulation.
King's Day today in the Netherlands. Free markets, lots of festivities, beautiful weather... but I'll stick with an orange pastry.
#kingsday #dailypicture #festivals #celebration #freemarkets
#kingsday #dailypicture #festivals #celebration #freemarkets
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