Lmst

Red states get it: Economic freedom beats blue-state gimmicks

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.theblaze.com/columns/opinion/red-states-get-it-economic-freedom-beats-blue-state-gimmicks

“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/

@susankayequinn

"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.]

Miner, Patrick; Smith, Barbara M.; Jani, Anant; McNeill, Geraldine; Gathorne-Hardy, Alfred (1 February 2024). "Car harm: A global review of automobility's harm to people and the environment". Journal of Transport Geography. 115: 103817.

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.

#markets #AdamSmith #FreeMarkets

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

orange pastry with Dutch flag and whipped cream

I guess the question is can capital that wants free trade accept the new tariff approach. Then is there another division in capital that is vying for something even more different.

This is not an endorsement of either just an obervation
#Trump #Tariffs #FreeMarkets

Anyone else notice how quiet the neoliberals have been lately?

For decades, conservative fans of FA Hayek and Milton Friedman have told us that free trade and free markets are their core principles.

That we should let the invisible hand of the market decide.

That any government intervention, no matter how well intended, distorts the markets.

That government intervention in markets is socialism.

That governments shouldn't pick winners.

That taxes are bad.

That if there's a choice between government intervention to stop global warming from fossil fuel pollution or free trade, they'll gladly pick free trade.

Right back to Reagan and Thatcher, they swore these were their core principles.

So.

An American president intervening in markets by imposing arbitrary protectionist tariff taxes should have been a hard no.

A political candidate openly campaigning on doing this should have met stiff opposition from the invisible hand's true believers.

If a true believer in these neoliberal principles (as Rupert Murdoch has claimed to be) owned a news channel (such as Fox News), one would expect outrage at this blatant rejection of free markets and free trade.

So where are all the neoliberal think tanks? Economists? Politicians?

Why the silence?

#economics #FreeMarkets #FreeTrade #capitalism #politics #news #trump

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

Rage to boycott US products is spreading.
US had voted for #tariffs back in November, which is pretty much the same thing really.

If I were either US #maga or EU #populist, I would advocate for ditching free markets, enrage my electorate base against the others, and perpetuate my position in power.
A win-win situation for US and EU politicians.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/12/i-feel-utter-anger-from-canada-to-europe-a-movement-to-boycott-us-goods-is-spreading

#europe #populism #boycott #freemarkets #freetrade

1️⃣2️⃣ The Free Market and UBI Are Complements

🔥 UBI isn’t socialism — it’s an investment in economic expansion.

✅ By giving everyone the ability to spend, invest, and create, UBI fuels the free market, unlocking more innovation and opportunity.

💡 Ending poverty doesn’t shrink the economy — it empowers more people to build wealth.

#UniversalWealth #UBI #FreeMarkets #EconomicGrowth #20postchallenge

A vibrant, colorful mosaic of tiles arranged in a spiral pattern, symbolizing the expansion of opportunity and growth. The image includes visual elements like graphs, arrows, and plant symbols, representing progress, economic growth, and innovation. The radiant colors and patterns reflect a dynamic system where value is created, showing how investments in growth lead to prosperity and the spreading of wealth across different sectors.

8️⃣ Why Economic Growth is Being Artificially Limited

🔥 The biggest limit on economic growth isn’t technology — it’s bad policy.

✅ AI productivity, investment-driven UBI, and immigration reform can drive GDP growth rates to 8-10% annually — like China’s peak or post-WWII America.

💡 Growth thrives when barriers are removed.

💭 What’s one policy you believe is holding back economic growth?

#FreeMarkets #EconomicFreedom #InvestInGrowth #UniversalWealth #20postchallenge

@SharkAttak A chief failure of the profit motive is that it cares not a whit where profit comes from.

If profit derived only from wealth as defined by Adam Smith ("the produce and labour of the nation"), that would be fine.

But profit is in fact an accounting artefact, not an economic one. That bit of equivocation is at the heart of a great deal of the apparent contradictions and fallacies of mainstream economics.

Profit is based on realised costs and revenues, which means that any trick which can be used to lower or offset / externalise costs, and to inflate or capture revenues, is a net gain to the business.

That's why "free market" entrepreneurs are not in fact in favour of free markets where they can secure higher profits by suppressing free markets. Whether that's through dumping toxic waste (physical or informational), fraud, slavery, labour oppression, tax avoidance, quashing or buying competitors, oppressing suppliers, inserting themselves as middlemen in trade (capturing both supplier and consumer surplus), monopolisation, regulatory capture, lobbying, or any of the other abuses.

Markets can be effective, but generally only where there is a balance of power between capital, labour, government, and common weal generally. If you read Smith closely you'll find that he's a champion of small scale commerce, but casts a jaundiced eye on monopolies (he doesn't use that word, but search for "engross" within Wealth and you'll find some mention), and those who can influence the State to their own interests (wool merchants get a call-out).

As best as I've been able to trace, it, the principles of cost accounting in the US were set out by Alexander Hamilton Church (and yes, related to that A.H.), see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton_Church.

There's a wonderful inquiry into cost accounting by Leo Tolstoy in, I think in What Is To Be Done, (sometimes "What Then Must We Do") a collection of essays: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_to_Be_Done%3F_(Tolstoy) https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/leo-tolstoy-what-is-to-be-done.

@Gotterdammerung

I'm pretty sure @pluralistic is aware of much of this but AHC may be of interest.

#Economics #EconomicFallacies #equivocation #profit #wealth #ProfitVsWealth #AlexanderHamiltonChurch #accounting #FreeMarkets #LeoTolstoy #WhatIsToBeDone #WhatThenMustWeDo

western capitalism is just all scams now:
this country only works for large corporations, everything that happens is based on who gets the cash and who doesnt. if you dont have bribe money, you cant compete #FreeMarkets https://montanafreepress.org/2025/03/03/house-lawmaker-resigns-after-bruising-battles-on-vape-bills/

#Bezos said on Wed he would mandate the paper’s #opinions section to focus on supporting #FreeMarkets & #PersonalLiberties, saying those pieces w/opposing views can “be left to be published by others.”

The move was rebuked by current & former #WashingtonPost staffers, though it was praised in a trolling post by #Trump’s WH.

#MartyBaron #FourthEstate #journalism #media #FreePress #censorship #propaganda #trumpaganda #ViewPointDiscrimination #law #USpol