What does the free market mean?

A lefty view on the free market.

 

The down side to the Walmart/Globalization/Free Market Capitalism model is shared poverty. Most advocates of Free Market Capitalism will tell you that Globalization has an equalizing effect that raises wages of the poor in third world countries. Yes the average wages in the third world go from 50 cents an hour to $1.50 an hour, but what they forget to tell you is the average first world wage drops from $18.00 per hour to $5.50 per hour. Then the question becomes, does it matter that I can get a TV for $79.99 at Walmart if I am living in a cardboard box ?

 

I guess it's screw you or be screwed.I try not to buy from the big corporations,I like my jeans worn out anyway lol.I would of thought these companies would help reduce hunger though.It's sickening though,paramilitary stuff and all that.

 

Has anyone ever tried giving up coca cola. I've drank it for so long that if go a day without it i get severe headaches.

As a citizen of britain we find ourselves in the european union and that means free trade for european countries and every other nation outside has to pay a subsidy on top of exports to the european union.

This sounds fair but what really happens is that people outside the EU now get less because they pay more to sell stuff to us (or hike their prices, making them less competitive).

All except the multinationals. I work for a multinational software house and over the last few years alot of the programming work now takes place in china but because the company claims to be british we can sell our software freely within the EU.

What that means is that our company sacks all their programmers in the UK, gets Chinese people to do it for a pittence and still gets to sell their software in the UK.

I think the EU/Britain needs to change its rules, so that if the product is not physically produced in the EU/Britain it is subjected to the same taxes every other company exporting into the EU/Britain is.

Basically a multinational can set up a tiny one man office in Europe, make it the headquarters (by name only) and then flout the extra taxes.

 

I gave up drinking all coca-cola products. It was easy.

My best friend's parents are both doctors, and told me that the ingredients in pop actually cause bone marrow deterioration. So instead of drinking pop with liquor at bars, I stick to juices and beer. The only pop I drink are Pepsi products now, and other brands. After giving up Coca-cola, I pretty much stopped drinking pop altogether.

It sounds as though you are suffereing from caffeine withdrawal symptoms. There are caffeine tablets you can take to help ease yourself off the headaches, but no matter what happens caffeine is a drug and your brain isn't getting the stimulants it has been accustomed to.

But give it a good try anyway, it's a new year.

 

Its a fairly harmless dependancy. I think I can live with it.

 

A free market is a system in which supply and demand are not regulated or are regulated with a few minor restrictions. EX: Illicit drug production and distribution is regulated.
The ideology of a 'free market' dates back to acient Greece, as one example being Athens, one of the cultural hubs of the acient world. Foreigners, civilians and merchants were permitted a public space to voluntarily exchange goods and services directly, without having obligations and/or restrains on the details of the exchange.

The idea is that people profit most when their innovations are free to have a space in the realms of a public exchange. The marketplace works best if everyone is browsing the aisles (or what-have-you) in the pursuit of their own self-interest, or in the interest of finding something notably deserving of purchase. The producers/sellers are motivated only by their own needs to make money, and will therefore make/sell only products for which there is a demand, seeking the highest price possible.

Similarily, buyers – motivated by their own needs for certain goods, and their desire to make their money go as far as possible – will only buy the best products for the lowest price possible. With everyone pursuing their own self-interest, the best products will thrive, the worst fail. In this system, society doesn’t thrive because people set out to make it thrive. It thrives because people are looking after their own advantage, pursuing their own interest.

A free-market economy is based on these assumptions and promotes trans-national economic freedoms, connections and capabilities. In theory, a small operating business should not be hindered to produce what they wish to attempt to sell, and should be given an equal and free opportunity to sell.