Free Markets: The Cost of Colloquialism

An essay on Free Markets.

   Free Markets, or the capitalist economy model, have succeeded in creating a stable, self-sustaining structure for profits and the participating individual’s ability to gain wealth in most parts of the developed world. Alright, that might not be entirely correct but, wouldn’t it be nice? That’s the meaning the phrase usually conjures up in those that advocate and facilitate the free market. It’s what is right and just, it’s the morally sound option, and it’s also tied hand-in-hand with being American.
    Or so the propaganda tells us.
    The truth is, a Free Market is a rousing idea. A system based only on what those within it need and what they can produce. A system which can right itself in times of economic decline. And one that leaves the governance of control to those consumers that hold the almighty power: their disposable income. It all sounds great on paper; a simple formula. But as anyone living in America below the middle-class line knows, there is nothing free about Free Markets.
    When I was young(and more naïve), the term “Free Market” sounded magical. It wasn’t something I could ever really understand, but that was ok. The point wasn’t to understand it, necessarily, but to simply see how unquestionably it all worked, and to celebrate its very existence. To grow up with the very thought in my head that everything could be acquired with money--and therefore everything was worth something--is still something I have trouble shaking from my mind. I remember being in toy stores at a very young age and having to be told that, no, we couldn’t pick-up the latest in transforming, crime-fighting    figurines because they cost too much, when the very commercials that had zoomed across my television at home told me they were very affordable. I didn’t quite understand why at the time, but then, economics are a mystery to many of us, including toddlers.
    As I grew older, the term Free Market begin to shift in idiomatic interpretation from one of impervious steadfast virtue to something more fallible, and something more human. I made my own deductions about whether or not this “system” was the solution to how we should exchange our goods and services, and I wondered about where the far-reaching tangential effects of it ended up, and what that meant to those not privileged enough to grow up in the country that is inextricably tied to the Free Market. I wondered if there was a reason that so many of the things I owned were stamped with a “Made in China” label, while on television they called the Chinese communists, and said we were far superior to their country. I wondered about why there were children starving in more countries than could be listed on the screen during a short commercial, yet sixty whole minutes were devoted to The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. I wondered why some children I went to school with were dropped off in brand new SUV’s, while my parent’s drove me there in their modest station wagon.
    It wasn’t long before I didn‘t have to wonder anymore. After reading some literature, watching a few documentaries, and generally just paying closer attention, it became pretty clear that when someone has more, someone else has less. Companies whose prices are astronomically low(ahem, Wal-Mart), yet their revenues propel them to the height of the world’s most profitable corporations obviously have something going on underneath the table. But yet we all seem to smile and nod when that animated smiley face slashes a few more prices, and lowers a few more salaries.
    It would be quite a world to live in if the Market existed as it does on paper: Free of outside malevolence, self-regulating, bending to the will of the people. But sadly, as anyone who is only marginally informed already knows, this just simply isn’t the case. The competition that can inspire companies to better themselves and their products in the face of a decisive consumer can also help them to justify de-regulation in newer “markets” (Enron and California‘s electricity crisis, for example), and further place their profits above the needs and wants of the everyday citizen. Outsourcing jobs can create cheaper products here at home, but at what price to the twelve year old laborer that works sixteen hour shifts in a sweatshop overseas? And what about those famous celebrities we envy with such fastidious attentions? Does their ability to act or sing or dance mean that they are more entitled to wealth and prosperity than a factory worker or schoolteacher?
    Now I know what you’re thinking, all this talk seems to be leading in the direction of that always horrifying word: Socialism! That’s the usual response when anyone is critical of the Free Market, capitalist system. But even the evil ‘S’ word comes into play here a little, because when those Free Markets proved they couldn’t be left unchecked(Stock Market Crash of 1929), the government stepped in and created the SEC(Securities and Exchange Commission), which now rigorously monitors Wall Street. Not to mention the fact that Socialism is--gasp!--already in your very neighborhood. Yes the evils of socialism can be personified in many horrible long-standing programs such as libraries, fire and police departments, schools, prisons, interstates and highways.  And don’t all of those institutions seem to be better regulated than the world of business?
    Just a thought.
    So is it all bad news? Are we doomed to churn in this monetary maelstrom until only a handful are left in control and the promise of insurmountable wealth dictates the daily lives of those subservient waifs toiling to do the bidding of their heavy-walleted masters? Or will we reach some anti-Orwellian utopia, where all is fair and equal and just? I’m not sure, but I do know(and you should too) that words have power. And a simple phrase like Free Market can have leave an indelible impression in the minds of those who agree with and despise it. I leave it to you folks, because all my daydreaming won’t change the value of a dollar, or keep me from wondering why it is our shoes are made by children and why young actors are paid in millions.