There is no such thing as a “free market”

Friends,

One of the basic tenets of my “Wealth and Poverty” course — which is coming to you free each week right here on this Substack — is that the so-called “free market” does not exist apart from the government laws and regulations that define and enforce it.

I get into this more deeply in the course, but it’s important to understand that the real issue isn’t whether the “free market” or the “government” determine how the system functions. The real issue is who benefits — and whether the laws and regulations improve the lives and well-being of average working people or mainly improve the lives and well-being of the moneyed interests.

Over the last 50 years, the laws and regulations that define the market have shifted from improving the lives and well-being of average working people to improving the lives and well-being of America’s wealthy.

This is why so much wealth is now in the hands of a small group of billionaires, while average Americans are struggling.

It’s also a major reason why so many Americans are justifiably angry. Since 2016, Trump has channeled that anger and rage toward scapegoats who have had nothing to do with the underlying power shift: immigrants, the poor, Black people, Latinos, LGBTQ+ people, the so-called “deep state,” “woke,” “socialists,” Democrats, even Canadians.

It’s important that Americans understand the real reason for the power shift: As wealth has concentrated at the top, so has political power to alter the laws and rules by which the market functions — taxes, labor laws, anti-monopoly laws, and even foreign policies in the forms of tariffs and wars. The problem, in other words, is that big money has distorted our system in favor of those at the top and against everyone else.

What to do about this? I’ll suggest in the course what must be done. (You can find week 1 here. We’re on week 2, here. Week 3 starts next week.)

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