Here is the definition of a free market economy. I googled it as any of you could (especially you Mike Irwin)
Definition: A free market economy is an economy in which the allocation for resources is determined only by their supply and the demand for them. This is mainly a theoretical concept as every country, even capitalist ones, places some restrictions on the ownership and exchange of commodities.
A free market is a market in which prices of goods and services are arranged completely by the mutual consent of sellers and buyers. By definition, in a free market environment buyers and sellers do not coerce or mislead each other nor are they coerced by a third party.[1] In the aggregate, the effect of these decisions en masse is described by the law of supply and demand. Free markets contrast sharply with controlled markets or regulated markets, in which governments directly or indirectly regulate prices or supplies, distorting market signals.[2] In the marketplace the price of a good or service helps to quantify its value to consumers and thus balance it against other goods and services. In a free market, this relationship between price and value is a result of a plethora of voluntary transactions, rather than political decree as in a controlled market. Through competition between vendors for the provision of products and services, prices tend to decrease, and quality tends to increase. A free market is not to be confused with a perfect market where individuals have perfect information and there is perfect competition.
Free market economics is closely associated with laissez-faire economic philosophy, which advocates approximating this condition in the real world by mostly confining government intervention in economic matters to regulating against force and fraud among market participants. Hence, with government force limited to a defensive role, government itself does not initiate force in the marketplace beyond levying taxes in order to fund the maintenance of the free marketplace. Some free market advocates oppose taxation as well, claiming that the market is better at providing all valuable services of which defense and law are no exception, and that such services can be provided without direct taxation.
I am certain that someone with more patience than I have, or a better memory could give you many examples of governmental interference in the market place. I lived in NYS during the 1974 supposed gas shortage. The state government decided that it needed to interfere in the free market by dictating that gas stations could only sell to cars with even numbers ending their license plate and odd numbers ending their license plate on alternate days, and that you could only buy 10 gallons at a time. If a free market economy were truly in place, you could have driven into any gas station with any license plate, on any given day and have purchased all the STATION OWNER would sell you at whatever price you and he negotiated.
I remember a story recently where a gas station owner decided he would give a 3% discount to athletic team boosters and Senior citizens. I believe it was in Minnesota or Michigan. THE STATE threatened to put him out of business because he was violating their rules on how to price his product. Since they TAXED gasoline, they had to control the price to be certain the STATE got all the tax money it demanded from him.
If we lived in a truly free market economy, anyone with a product to sell, and the ambition to make it available, could stand on a street corner and sell it. The market (consumers) would decide how much, if any of it they cared to purchase, and would agree on a price. No governmental agency would interfere by requiring a business license, inspections, taxes on the sales, reporting of sales to the State or Federal taxing agency, or any of the plethora of other governmental intrusions into the free market economy.
The idea of environmentalists shutting down entire sections of our economy (such as the national logging industry) would be unthinkable. If someone wanted to buy from a supposedly polluting industry they would be free to. The market, not a special interest group, or the government, would decide to reward that company or industry by buying their wares for a mutually agreeable price.
If you think that a free market economy really exists in this country, you must have had different professors in your economics classes than I did.
