Capitalism in Its Most Free

Thoughts about Shock Doctrine and Capitalism..

A purely free market system, however how it makes full and perfect sense in theory, can have completely not so ideal consequences in the real world. It can be (and is) a world where a few control the wealth, a society that has no social safety net for its citizens.

A free market system makes complete sense to me when the 'invisible hand' offers the best and fastest way to determine the price of a good and service. . It makes sense when it creates the concept of private ownership - where citizens have the incentive to better his own circumstance.

A country where government is at its smallest, where almost every social service like education, energy, health care, transportation, and even defense is privatized and thus almost resembling a total free market economy will almost only benefit those who can afford such services. This is where I think the pure market economy fails. Though private enterprise for sure can offer the best service, it should also not be forgotten that it serves another motivation: to make profit.

When one is motivated by profit, it will indiscriminately choose those who can afford from those who cannot. What happens then to those who cannot afford? Shall they be just left out?

Another area where a free market economy fails is where people have the capacity to freely speculate on prices of goods (specifically the stock market) What protective mechanism will be in place for citizens when million or billion dollars worth of wealth evaporates into thin air all of a sudden?

And lastly, in a purely free market system, when the economy goes into recession, who will fill in the vacuum of lost demand, upon which economic recovery greatly relies upon?

Chile, Britain, Iraq and the US have been great case studies of real outcomes where capitalism in its most free form has been implemented. Not a pretty picture. Hope we all learn from it.