WE FEAR THE FREE MARKET
Of course we do! We need to go back to the early 1900’s to have any firsthand experience with something resembling a free market. Who here can claim to be over 100 years old? Not too many. Hence, our generation and the generation before us do not have any experience with a free market.
And here we stand, asking you to take a leap of faith into the unknown. It is only natural to be fearful. This is the problem. We are asking you to trust us, but you have no first-hand experience and knowledge that would support your trust in us. Why would you trust us? Of course you can’t. And if you can’t, then the whole of humanity is forever doomed to be trapped in this fiat money cycle forever. We are doomed!
Well… Not so fast. There is an answer. This answer is not in what we say, but the coincidence between what we say and history. It is up to you to verify that when a free market existed in your country, it indeed brought all the benefits that we claim it brings. But be warned. This is no easy task. There are many traps along the way. Government interventions in free markets as subtle and wide. When one studies would-be free markets, one must make absolutely sure that government intervention was so low that free market characteristics revealed themselves. If you find a historical period where government intervention was indeed so low as to foster a quasi-free market and the free market did not delivered as promised, we will gladly become statists. Yes, our belief in the free market is indeed that strong.
THERE IS SOMETHING WORSE
People fear the free market because it is a jungle and we all know what happens in the jungle with cuddly little consumers: they get eaten.
This is terrible imagery in which many people believe regardless of the facts. The correct image is that the free market is indeed the jungle, but consumers are the natives. They are the ones supremely adapted to use the jungle in their favor. It is not a scary place, but home. It is the provider of genuine choices and the riser of standards of living. The free market is indeed a dangerous place, but for consumers it is home. We use the free market because we already have the training to use it. It is instinctive. We don’t know why, but to trade is ingrained in our being. We already know the rules of the game; it is just a matter of playing it. Actually, we are so familiar with those rules, that we are cocky. Probably too cocky. Because there is something else “out there”.
There is a beast inhabiting this market which is far, far scarier and dangerous that anything that the free market can ever conjure. And what is this mythical beast? The symbiosis between big business and government.
Big business has the power to control the government and the government has the power to control us. For big business is it the economically-efficient way to gain advantages in the market (by influencing government in their favor and against their competitors). The only problem is that in so doing, they are destroying the free market and with it all the protection we had. Government sponsored or imposed monopolies are like the practice of clear-cutting the jungle. One company makes a huge fortune and the rest of the ecological system is left to survive as best it can. In this process, we are the endangered species and big business the clear cutters.
If you should fear something, you should fear this beast, not the jungle.
ULTIMATE BETRAYAL
Movies and particularly Hollywood, usually present us with entertainment whereby a valiant and courageous Prime Minister or King or President battles those evil, evil corporations against all odds. Let’s face it, it makes for superb entertainment!
Votes versus money. The “will of the people” versus greed. Truth, justice and honor against the tyranny of power… and so on. Makes for excellent drama, unfortunately, it has absolutely nothing to do with reality.
Think about it. Why would a corporation or even a cartel engage in a very expensive cold war against a government, if the expedient way is to buy politicians off? Corporations and cartels are not that stupid. They fully understand that when cornered, governments will have access to unlimited resources (thanks to Central Banks) and unlimited covert and overt power (thanks to the Military, Police and so-called Intelligence Community). Such a confrontation is a non-starter.
Furthermore, these very same corporations and cartels don’t even have to approach politicians through a cold call. They have been supplying them with campaign money and press throughout their careers. Yet another reason why these very same corporations and cartels often support candidates from two or more parties at the same time. Hedging their bets is dirt-cheap compared with the benefits they obtain by having “their man at the top of the government”.
However, when it comes to it, when it really counts, governments bail out big business. We have seen this process in operation during the 2008 bank crisis, but this was just the latest chapter of a very long book. If you live in a democracy, you may have access to approved parliamentary documents; laws and such. A simple search for subsidies, and tax breaks, and capital injections and “work programs” or “development programs” or “defense spending” will shed some light. Correlate this with the financial status of the involved companies before and after the approval. You will often find that companies that would otherwise be bankrupt have been magically transformed into profitable ones… courtesy of the government. And these are just the most visible signs.
Then, we also have all the “support programs” and “union agreements” and “matching investments” and a myriad of other “politically correct” names that Governors or Regents or Premiers or Chairs happen to provide to corporations and cartels “for the good of the people”… or so they say.
The truth is that governments execute the ultimate betrayal. They give (as in gift) money to unprofitable corporations who cannot otherwise survive in a free market. This money is taken from your pockets by the very people that you elected to guard precisely against such eventualities. Oh the irony. The very guards are the thieves!
THE UNCONVINCED ONES
There are all kinds of people in the Internet in the same manner that there are all kinds of people in the world. Some are not interested in what we have to say, some are and most of them stand in between. The one characteristic that almost all share is the feeling that this is some sort of a game, almost a video game. Our message is not real. It has no implications in their lives and hence it cannot be taken seriously or it can be dismissed with ease. It is not urgent. It is not vital.
In a sense, they are right. The message seems plastic and surreal, almost video-game-like. This must necessarily be so because most people have not lived through a free market. Most people reading this site are from industrialized countries where nobody has experienced a free market for at least two generations! They don’t have first or even second-hand knowledge or experience in this matter.
It is precisely for this reason that we are here. We have first-hand knowledge of the matter, we have lived through it, we are the witnesses you demand and we are the story tellers conveying our life experiences. We are here to tell you that what we are saying is true; that the free market works and it is crucial for your life.
Although our message has some entertaining value (hopefully), we are not here to entertain you. We are here to expand your horizons. We are here to challenge the point of view that has been burned into your brain. We are here to open doors and present you with possibilities. We are here to provide you reassurances and encourage you explore other options. We are here to ask you to challenge us and challenge yourself, but more importantly, to challenge the state’s message. We are here to ask you to ask questions and keep asking them until you are satisfied. We are here to show you that evolution is possible and that revolution is neither necessary nor the best possible solution.
However, in ultimate analysis, where do we go from here is up to you. Entirely up to you. Choose wisely.
Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.
