The street outside of the Change of Pace in Macomb, Illinois come closing time is a perfect example of a free market in action. As patrons of the bar stumble outside at 2am on the weekends, they are greeted by restaurateurs with carts (and some in their cars) selling samples of their products. Inebriated adults are hungry, and local restaurant owners have recognized an opportunity to both fill a need and advertise their businesses. Everyone benefits from this economic activity, which is free from outside interference.
As government comes calling, however, freedom of choice is reduced because the number of options available to the public decreases. Several major cities, most notably New York and San Francisco, have begun to meddle in the kind of free market activity mentioned above.....
Sometimes, as is the case in San Francisco, business owners themselves conspire to shut down free markets. According to a March 8, 2010 KTVU News report, “restaurant owners are complaining about new competition from street vendors selling gourmet goodies and demanding that the board of supervisors to take action.”.......
But with that free market would come competition, something that some business owners do not want. (“It’s not fair competition,” complained a local restaurant owner. “They [vendors] move around.”) That is why many business leaders work with government officials to make it as difficult as possible for anyone else to start a business. But while their own business might benefit from such an arrangement, the economy as a whole suffers. When those businesses move or are forced to close, it is very difficult for anything else to take their place.
In Marxist-Leninist and socialist economies, market regulation directly benefits a government monopoly, however, under State Capitalism, markets are manipulated to benefit a few select companies or corporations who have the ear of Federal, state, and local government. Such is the case in the United States, where State Capitalism is often mistaken for a “free market.” This collusion of state and private interests harms competition (and, ultimately, the public) by favoring one business over another, thereby removing choice from the customer and a certain motivation for adaptation on the part of business.
