A pure Free Market is an abstract ideal with close to zero traction in today's economic realities.
To a hardcore Libertarian, antitrust laws involving federal govt intervention are a sin against the Holy Ghost of Adam Smith, but in reality they're designed to protect capitalism from itself--i.e., its own self-destructive tendencies, especially restraint of trade. (Bill Gates: "We'll cut off their oxygen supply..") Business thrives in a free market but when corporations become monopolies they undercut the very system that made them possible. Not just competitors but consumers are the victims. Re the DOJ's antitrust suit against Google, here's what the Wall Street Journal says about Google's monopolistic practices:
"Google owns or controls search distribution channels accounting for about 80% of search queries in the U.S., the officials said. That means Google’s competitors can’t get a meaningful number of search queries and build a scale needed to compete, leaving consumers with less choice and less innovation,"
As for tariffs: to Bastiat Trump's tariffs against China would be an outrage against the free market, but again, when your trading partner repeatedly cheats, he's no longer engaging in free trade and retaliation is your only effective option to even the playing field.
Speaking of which: imagine Football without referees. The linebackers would break the QBs knees every chance they got. It would stop being a game and become a Hobbesian war of all against all.
A pure Free Market is an abstract ideal with close to zero traction in today's economic realities.
To a hardcore Libertarian, antitrust laws involving federal govt intervention are a sin against the Holy Ghost of Adam Smith, but in reality they're designed to protect free-market capitalism from itself--i.e., its own self-destructive tendencies, especially restraint of trade. (Bill Gates: "We'll cut off their oxygen supply..") Business thrives in a free market but when powerful corporations become monopolies they undercut the very system that made them possible.
To Bastiat Trump's tariffs against China would be an outrage against the free market, but again, when your trading partner repeatedly cheats, he's no longer engaging in free trade and retaliation is your only effective option to even the playing field.
Speaking of which: imagine Football without referees. The linebackers would break the QBs knees every chance they got. It would stop being a game and become a Hobbesian war of all against all.
A pure Free Market is an abstract ideal with close to zero traction in today's economic realities.
To a hardcore Libertarian, antitrust laws involving federal govt intervention are a sin against the Holy Ghost of Adam Smith, but in reality they are designed to protext free-market capitalism from itself--i.e., its own self-destructive tendencies, especially restraint of trade. (Bill Gates: "We'll cut off their oxygen supply..") Business thrives in a free market but when powerful corporations become monopolies they undercut the very system that made them possible.
To Bastiat Trump's tariffs against China would be an outrage against the free market, but again, when your trading partner repeatedly cheats, he's no longer engaging in free trade and retaliation is your only effective option to even the playing field.
Speaking of which: imagine Football without referees. The linebackers would break the QBs knees every chance they got. It would stop being a game and become a Hobbesian war of all against all.