Friday, May 27, 2016

Do we take free(ish) markets for granted?

Judging by the popularity of certain politicians, the answer is yes. But in places where they can't take them for granted, markets are overwhelmingly popular (WP via Cato):

Another Pew poll found that 95 percent of Vietnamese felt that people were better off in a free-market economy
Another irony is that while supporters of a certain politician have been touting "democratic socialism", claiming that this imaginary breed of socialism isn't the 'government ownership of the means of production', in practice, their vision of the world is more accurately described as "democratic fascism" (Thomas Sowell) - "government control of the economy, while leaving ownership in private hands". I'm guessing that doesn't quite have the same marketing ring to it. On a hopeful note though, from the original WP article:
Millennials tend to reject the actual definition of socialism — government ownership of the means of production, or government running businesses. Only 32 percent of millennials favor “an economy managed by the government,” while, similar to older generations, 64 percent prefer a free-market economy.
More: Tweet from Garry Kasparov:

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