Originally Posted by dieselman70

Kane, Demon
You're both on trac. Free Markets are free in that the barriers to enter are low and attainable and the business owner is free to manucature/sell any product he/she feels is marketable. The consumer is free to decide what products and services he/she wants to buy. Where the trouble lies is when the business owner tries to "pull one over" on the consumer. That is when free markets need a neutral third party oversight - government. To remain a free society we have to maintain laws. We are a society of laws and that includes the business sector.

Example: if you oprerate an adult paybsite, collect monthly payments from members but do not allow them access to the site, you are breaking the law by breaking your own contractual terms with the membership. Who does the member go to for rectification? Without a regulatory body keeping the website operator in check, my guess is that several website operators would do just that or something simmilar, until existing members and new members get a clue.

Closed markets are those controlled by a government or sole serving industry with substantial barriers to entry. Communist/socialist governments create substantial barriers ot entry so they can controll who, what, when, where a busines operates.

We are never going back to the gold standard. Our economy cannot reverse that course. Deal with it and thank Nixon.