Markets are constantly paraded as free when they are anything but.  Politicians love to cloak intervention under the banner of liberty.  Subsidies, bailouts, and regulations all get wrapped in the language of competition.  They call it reform, but it’s control.  They call it freedom, but it’s dependency.  The more the state intervenes, the louder they declare the market to be free.

This trick has been played for centuries.  They’ll say we need “fair markets.” They’ll insist that regulation ensures opportunity.  What it ensures is privilege.  The same ones who call this freedom are the ones who lobby for exceptions.  It’s all partnership between state and favored businesses.  They’ll praise competition while outlawing competitors.  They’ll praise innovation while dictating how it must unfold.

A real free market doesn’t need thousands of pages of rules.  It doesn’t need bureaucrats to police voluntary exchanges.  The only requirement is that individuals are free to trade, produce, and contract without interference.  That would strip power from the establishment.  Real freedom is their enemy.  The moment it appears, the media, intellectuals, and political class rush to attack it.  They’ll scream about chaos, danger, and inequality.

Look at the wordplay: consumption becomes investment, regulation becomes reform, and coercion becomes freedom.  Words are inverted to serve power.  Remember that communists, too, called their system free.  It’s the same sleight of hand—only the costumes change.

True markets would abolish subsidies, corporate welfare, bailouts, tariffs, and quotas.  They’d allow people to succeed or fail without being shielded by political friends.  The objection, “what if others don’t do the same?” is absurd.  That’s like saying because someone else tied their own hands, I must too.  Hurting oneself to match another’s folly isn’t wisdom—it’s submission.

Who benefits from the pseudo-market?  Always the same few: the state and its allies.  They gain at the expense of everyone else.  They claim it’s about spreading democracy, equality, or security.  In reality, it’s about control.  If unchecked, this game escalates.  Trade barriers become disputes, disputes become wars.  It always ends in conflict.

Don’t be fooled by slogans.  Don’t let catchwords replace thinking.  As La Rochefoucauld observed, men can be caught by their ears.  The establishment knows this.  That’s why they shout freedom loudest when they’re destroying it.

Reference

Murray Rothbard; Making Economic Sense