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Why Capitalists Should Sympathize With Luigi Mangione Supporters
The American health insurance industry is barely capitalist.
If Subway tries to charge you $50 for a footlong, you could simply take your business to the mom-and-pop Chinese restaurant down the street. If that mom-and-pop Chinese restaurant tries to charge $25 for a tiny bowl of chow mein, there’s a Mexican food truck right around the corner.
This is an example of a free market. In free markets, there are:
- Many competing businesses
- Low barriers to entry (it’s easy for new businesses to enter the playing field)
- Minimal government involvement (note that this doesn’t mean no government involvement)
In true free markets, it’s highly risky for a business to screw over its customers, because customers have so many alternatives. Instead, businesses must bend to the will of their customers to survive.
True free markets protect customers by giving them the upper hand in the power dynamic. This often results in fair and lower prices.
Capitalism, according to its godfather Adam Smith, fundamentally requires free markets.
