How Free Markets Hurt People and Planet
Unregulated markets are unjust, destructive, and bound to crash
Celebrity stockbroker and failed Senate candidate Peter Schiff (net worth $70 million) said, “The government can’t create jobs; they’ll destroy jobs trying to do it. We need free markets to create jobs; if the government wants to help, they should reduce their burden on the economy.”
Rich people never tire of preaching the importance of free markets. Extreme free market ideology is called neoliberalism and dominates economics in the United States today. Most politicians of both major parties, no matter how conservative on social issues, are neoliberals when it comes to protecting the power of corporations from government restrictions.
Neoliberals believe that the less government regulates or sponsors businesses, and the less financial support they give working people, the better off we will be. Labor will be free to move; capital will be free to grow. In reality, though, unregulated markets have caused tremendous suffering and repeated market crashes, not least the worldwide economic crisis of 2008.
But where are neoliberals wrong? If, as most believe, freedom is good, and markets are good, how can free markets be bad? Haven’t they created the extraordinary wealth we see in the rich countries…
