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What's the difference between Free Markets and Anarchy?

Occam's Razor

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What's the difference between Free Markets and Anarchy?

On a broad level, what is being advocated seems to blur the line.

Our country is founded on checks and balances.

Nature is a system of checks and balances.

The idea that free markets are self regulating in an artificial environment seems woefully ignorant to me.
 

Fisher

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free markets will self-regulate over time. The danger arises with monopolies and a handful of enterprises having complete vertical integration and near control of an entire market.
 

SanderO

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What's the difference between Free Markets and Anarchy?

On a broad level, what is being advocated seems to blur the line.

Our country is founded on checks and balances.

Nature is a system of checks and balances.

The idea that free markets are self regulating in an artificial environment seems woefully ignorant to me.

Very strange analysis this - Nature is a system of checks and balances.

Are you referring to the biological world... or all the natural world? Seems to me one could say the biological world is driven by the survival of the fittest and includes such behaviors as altruism, and other group behaviors to ensure survival of the gene pool. And then there's natural selection which are the environmental factors.l

The concept of a free market is pretty abstract because markets are very much not free at all. That's a misnomer... there's plenty of manipulation in economic systems.

Our country was established to escape the burden of unfair taxes from the crown. Without a monarch the founders were inspired by the principles of the enlightenment...

such as:

"The Age of Enlightenment (or simply the Enlightenment or Age of Reason) was a cultural movement of intellectuals in the 17th and 18th centuries, which began first in Europe and later in the American colonies. Its purpose was to reform society using reason, challenge ideas grounded in tradition and faith, and advance knowledge through the scientific method. It promoted scientific thought, skepticism and intellectual interchange and opposed superstition,[1] intolerance and some abuses of power by the church and the state. The ideas of the Enlightenment have had a major impact on the culture, politics, and governments of the Western world....."
 

Occam's Razor

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Very strange analysis this - Nature is a system of checks and balances.

Are you referring to the biological world... or all the natural world? Seems to me one could say the biological world is driven by the survival of the fittest and includes such behaviors as altruism, and other group behaviors to ensure survival of the gene pool. And then there's natural selection which are the environmental factors.l

The concept of a free market is pretty abstract because markets are very much not free at all. That's a misnomer... there's plenty of manipulation in economic systems.

Our country was established to escape the burden of unfair taxes from the crown. Without a monarch the founders were inspired by the principles of the enlightenment...

such as:

"The Age of Enlightenment (or simply the Enlightenment or Age of Reason) was a cultural movement of intellectuals in the 17th and 18th centuries, which began first in Europe and later in the American colonies. Its purpose was to reform society using reason, challenge ideas grounded in tradition and faith, and advance knowledge through the scientific method. It promoted scientific thought, skepticism and intellectual interchange and opposed superstition,[1] intolerance and some abuses of power by the church and the state. The ideas of the Enlightenment have had a major impact on the culture, politics, and governments of the Western world....."

You and your un-cited plagiarism... You really should put the crap you copy in a quote box and cite it's source.

...and... Do you practice obfuscation?

No, species are driven by the survival of the fittest. If ecologies operated on that premise, you'd have nothing but lions, tigers and bears, OH MY!

If one species population becomes too numerous, it's food source is over taxed and the ecology collapses. But this isn't about natural systems.

None of what you wrote (or copied) has anything to do with the current rabid ideological call for free and unfettered markets.
 

SanderO

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You and your un-cited plagiarism... You really should put the crap you copy in a quote box and cite it's source.

...and... Do you practice obfuscation?

No, species are driven by the survival of the fittest. If ecologies operated on that premise, you'd have nothing but lions, tigers and bears, OH MY!

If one species population becomes too numerous, it's food source is over taxed and the ecology collapses. But this isn't about natural systems.

None of what you wrote (or copied) has anything to do with the current rabid ideological call for free and unfettered markets.

Sorry.. it's a quote from wiki... but anyone who had a liberal education should know this. Do you have a problem with the veracity of the quote?

I suggest you read: Dawkins: The Selfish Gene.

Closed systems are self limiting aren't they?
 

Carjosse

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free markets will self-regulate over time. The danger arises with monopolies and a handful of enterprises having complete vertical integration and near control of an entire market.

What you get is price-fixing and monopolies.
 

opendebate

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free markets will self-regulate over time. The danger arises with monopolies and a handful of enterprises having complete vertical integration and near control of an entire market.

How will they self regulate?
 

StillBallin75

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Truly free markets are a theoretical construct and don't exist in the real world. But free markets (or as close as we can actually get to free markets) require governments to operate. Just like a ball game can't be played without rules, neither can a market economy exist without laws.
 

Rainman05

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What's the difference between Free Markets and Anarchy?

On a broad level, what is being advocated seems to blur the line.

Our country is founded on checks and balances.

Nature is a system of checks and balances.

The idea that free markets are self regulating in an artificial environment seems woefully ignorant to me.

Yes. But that has more to do with you being you rather than free markets.
 

obvious Child

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free markets will self-regulate over time. The danger arises with monopolies and a handful of enterprises having complete vertical integration and near control of an entire market.

A truly free market will result in a monopoly or oligopoly that will take measures we have deemed illegal to maintain control. Without a frame work to ensure level competition as well as preventing armed takeovers, free markets cannot survive.

Truly free markets do not self-regulate over time. They implode.
 

Occam's Razor

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Sorry.. it's a quote from wiki... but anyone who had a liberal education should know this. Do you have a problem with the veracity of the quote?

I suggest you read: Dawkins: The Selfish Gene.

Closed systems are self limiting aren't they?

Read it. Let me clue you in to something.... there is nothing you can teach me about anything. Stuff your arrogant suggestions.

And it still does not apply to the topic.
 

Fisher

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What you get is price-fixing and monopolies.

No because those are not free markets. A free market has to be maintained free from private players doing what a government could also do :2wave:
 

Fisher

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A truly free market will result in a monopoly or oligopoly that will take measures we have deemed illegal to maintain control. Without a frame work to ensure level competition as well as preventing armed takeovers, free markets cannot survive.

Truly free markets do not self-regulate over time. They implode.


The closest thing we have to a truly free market is the illegal drug industry and it seems to be growing quite nicely :shock:
 

Artevelde

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What's the difference between Free Markets and Anarchy?

On a broad level, what is being advocated seems to blur the line.

Our country is founded on checks and balances.

Nature is a system of checks and balances.

The idea that free markets are self regulating in an artificial environment seems woefully ignorant to me.

A free market cannot exist outside a legal and regulatory framework.
 

Carjosse

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No because those are not free markets. A free market has to be maintained free from private players doing what a government could also do :2wave:

You get Standard Oil and companies agreeing to keep prices high.
 

SanderO

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Read it. Let me clue you in to something.... there is nothing you can teach me about anything. Stuff your arrogant suggestions.

That is one of the most arrogant... your term... and ignorant.. my term statements anyone could make. Great technique and style. You'll go far with that approach.
 

obvious Child

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The closest thing we have to a truly free market is the illegal drug industry and it seems to be growing quite nicely :shock:

Which is fraught with violence, murder, prostitution, threats and all sorts of unsavory antics.

As we see in Mexico, there is an oligopoly which uses violence to maintain its position. Furthermore, it's not free in that rivals are literally buried.
 

Occam's Razor

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What's the difference between minimalist state intervention and no state intervention?

Who decides the minimum level? And who that level applies to?

That is one of the most arrogant... your term...

Arrogance is often linked with assumptions, as you did with your off topic "suggestion", mine is of confidence. I'm better read, better educated and more intelligent than you are... sorry, it's just a fact. Is it arrogant of me to point that out? Perhaps... and I can live with that. Is it ignorant? Not in the least.

Yawwwn... This thread isn't, as much as you'd like it to be, about you.

It's the same difference you have with apples and oranges.

Free markets = no rules. Anarchy = no rules. I have to wonder if you've ever seen an orange...
 

Papa bull

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Free markets = no rules. Anarchy = no rules. I have to wonder if you've ever seen an orange...

A free market DOES have rules and they're VERY important rules. The rule is that deals are AGREEMENTS between buyer and seller. Robbery is not the "free market" at work.

Additionally, anarchy is government (or more precisely, NO government) and free markets are economy. There is a reason why there are different words for "economy" and "government". See if you can guess why. I'll give you a hint: (because they're different things)

Free market merely means that people do business based on mutual agreement without the interference of the state with things such as sales restrictions, tarriffs and regulations. Such a market does not equate to "complete lack of government". Anarchy and Free Market principles are apples and oranges. I'm wondering if you've ever seen an apple...
 
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Who decides the minimum level? And who that level applies to?

...Us? The state or government currently governing society?

I'm sorry, I'm incredibly confused by your response.
 

YoungConserv

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What's the difference between Free Markets and Anarchy?

On a broad level, what is being advocated seems to blur the line.

Our country is founded on checks and balances.

Nature is a system of checks and balances.

The idea that free markets are self regulating in an artificial environment seems woefully ignorant to me.
In a free market I trade you a good or service for currency to buy goods or services . In anarchy I put a gun to your head and take what I want with out giving you anything see the diffrence
 

Occam's Razor

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A free market DOES have rules and they're VERY important rules. The rule is that deals are AGREEMENTS between buyer and seller. Robbery is not the "free market" at work.

Additionally, anarchy is government (or more precisely, NO government) and free markets are economy. There is a reason why there are different words for "economy" and "government". See if you can guess why. I'll give you a hint: (because they're different things)

Free market merely means that people do business based on mutual agreement without the interference of the state with things such as sales restrictions, tarriffs and regulations. Such a market does not equate to "complete lack of government". Anarchy and Free Market principles are apples and oranges. I'm wondering if you've ever seen an apple...

Perhaps you should google Anarchist economics....

But thank you for succinctly clarifying your previous statement.
 
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