Anne Wayman at The Golden Pencil started a discussion on the WGA Strike which attracted a lot of discussions and comments (http://www.thegoldenpencil.com/2008/01/16/writers-strike-and-the-myth-of-the-free-market/).
One of the central issues was the existence or non-existence of a free market.

A free market works efficiently & effectively if two conditions are present in the market:
1 if the operators / competitors in the market are more or less on an equal footing (i.e., in numbers, in financial capabilities, in access to resources & markets, etc). Otherwise, you have an oligopoly or cartels where the big operators act in concert (whether by design or …read more

Even a just system of income taxes, where the higher income brackets (whether personal or corporate) are levied a higher percentage, will not be able to do much by way of re-distributing abundance to give the lower income brackets a fair share –if the economic pie (gross domestic product, in economic-ese) does not grow. This will always happen in a stagnant economy (especially in a third world less developed economy) because the rich have more opportunities for grabbing a bigger share of the pie, i.e., “money begets money.”

A robust economy provides social mobility; i.e., the poor have opportunities …read more

Adam Smith’s invisible hand has pretty much influenced entrepreneurial and corporate thinking. The most common interpretation of the invisible hand is: in pursuing self-interest, individuals promote the common good; a free and democratic market is best for business and the economy. The common interpretation, however, ignores or has forgotten that Adam Smith also posited that there should be strong moral norms underlying the effective and efficient workings of the invisible hand. Without strong moral norms in individuals, societies and nations, the invisible hand leads to poverty and unequal distribution of wealth, big business taking advantage of …read more