Imagining a Free Market

THE BIG THREE, Family Dollar, Dollar General, and Dollar Tree, appear to be locked together in a grand corporate drama, of the sort we know so well. Dollar General will prevail, and will likely acquire the other two. Thus will conclude the era of competition within the dollar store industry, which might one day be compelled to rename itself the "five and ten dollar" store industry. Inflation, you know. Meanwhile, the Target corporation is withdrawing from Canada, perhaps to transfer resources south for the purpose of engaging more effectively in battle against Wal Mart. Or do they actually compete? Didn't there used to be something called the "Sherman Antitrust Act"? Whatever happened to it? Have we forgotten about it, or do we simply choose to conveniently ignore it? Corporate mergers and acquisitions seem to gain approval with noteworthy consistency. Anti-trust acts are remindful of civil rights acts and prohibitions against the inhalation of marijuana smoke: They come in large numbers, but never seem to be taken seriously. The standard line is that socialism does not work, but that capitalism does. Meanwhile, our public highways, bridges, schools, police and fire departments function smoothly, humming right along, while free market capitalism has never been tried. In America, the government subsidizes business, and this is mercantilism, not capitalism, at least, according to Adam Smith. According to Adam Smith, the free market runs the risk of exploiting labor, and government action on behalf of labor is always justified, but government action on behalf of business capital is never justified. This point is made in the seminal "Wealth of Nations", the Bible of the free market. In America, we use the government to support business, but not to help labor. As Abraham Lincoln said: "labor is prior to capital, which is only the fruit of labor, and never would have existed had labor not existed first. Labor is superior to capital, and should always be given higher consideration." As usual, in America, we do things backwards.