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And well-functioning free markets attack privilege by allowing new companies to compete away the profits of erstwhile monopolies. Since the establishment of the English East India Company, for example, the other inhabitants of England, over and above being excluded from the trade, must have paid in the price of the East India goods which they have consumed, not only for all the extraordinary profits which the company may have made upon those goods in consequence of their monopoly, but for all the extraordinary waste which the fraud and abuse, inseparable from the management of the affairs of so great a company, must necessarily have occasioned.įor Smith, the antithesis of the free market was not big government but monopoly and privilege. It, he said, not just "oppresses and domineers" Indians but also impoverishes the English: Instead he, like his kindred spirit Edmund Burke, devoted far more time to excoriating monopoly - the East India Company. His phrase, "the invisible hand" appears only once in the Wealth of Nations as an almost throwaway remark. Let's start at the beginning, with Adam Smith. If these are not the virtues of markets, what are? Still less do markets deliver social stability: an essential feature of them is the creative destruction that wipes out the industries on which some communities depend. But both saw frequent recessions: 15 in the US between 18 according to the NBER, whilst the UK saw 13 calendar years of falling real GDP between 18. Perhaps the nearest we have come to a free market was in 19th century England and the US. Still less is it the case that markets deliver economic stability. As Jesse Norman wrote in his excellent Adam Smith: what he thought and why it matters: "It makes no sense to speak of humans in a state of nature prior to society, because humans are social by nature." And in Free to Choose (pdf), Milton Friedman said: "There is nothing 'natural' about where my property rights end and yours begin." Sensible defenders of a market economy have always acknowledged that it rests upon the foundation of a well-functioning state. Nor is it the case that free markets are "natural" and government "interventions" therein artificial. Yes, they do so in theory, but only under conditions which have never actually existed. ![]() It is not the case that they yield "optimal" outcomes. ![]() ![]() #The invisibles say you want a revolution used for free#This poses the question: what does it mean to be a free marketeer today? One way to consider this is to ask what's so good about markets anyway, and whether these values can be strengthened (or even salvaged) in today's economy.įirst, though, let's remember what are not arguments for free markets. She wished to offer to her readers a feminist and sensual take on the story, which has grown more and more popular over the years, thanks to its themes of change, rebirth and growth.There's a paradox: Liz Truss's government contains many members who claim to be free marketeers, and yet the first policy of her premiership has been to freeze energy prices and subsidize energy suppliers. Not that the infatuated Persephone has any complaints regarding Hades' plight.Īs desire blooms between the secluded goddess of the harvest and the ruler of the underworld, the world changes both above and below.Īllison Shaw, creator of comics Far to the North and Tigress Queen, drew on her passion for mythology and ear for modern dialogue to create an updated myth for a mature audience. Now he must wrestle with his aching heart before he loses control entirely. A failed scheme by Apollo leads her to a chance encounter with the humorless Hades, who is struck by love's arrow. Persephone is no tragic victim, but a kind young woman held in place by her overbearing mother. He tells us quite a bit, in fact, for someone who wasn't there. In his ancient hymns, Homer tells us of the unyielding Lord of the Dead who kidnapped the innocent daughter of Demeter. Sensual and inspired comic retelling of the classic Greek romance of Hades and Persephone. ![]()
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