What is the definition of a "Free Market"?

[dmatic]

Buyer beware? SELLER beware too.

Around here you see the free market peeking out from under the rubble of the government controlled economy in various ways. A lot of "illegal" food trucks parked on the road around payday as someone tries to make a little money, or the fishermen sell their catch on the side of the road in front of their houses.

I never go to one of those food stands the first time I see it. I want it to know it's been in place for awhile and plenty of other people are eating there too. Why? Because if they were selling bad food nobody would stand for it. The answer to getting food poisoning or finding out you've been eating dog meat wouldn't be, "I'm going to report you to the government" but instead it would be losing some teeth when the angry public catches up to you.

More often than not the government protects bad businesses from the people they've screwed over. I don't know exactly what a free market looks like since they haven't existed in the United States since before I was born. But I have seen glimpses of what markets look like outside of government control and I tend to prefer those.

I like your point! Buyer and seller beware! We should all fear God and treat one another the way we would like to be treated. What we are looking for is a just and fair system. Wherein all are treated fairly and justly. Government is not to protect bad businesses, obviously. Nor those who steal from innocent sellers when their backs are turned. Most of us realize that we need a government, because hearts are still wicked and deceitful. So, what does a righteous government look like? Stealing from wealth producers, to "subsidize" favored "business", whether it be farming or candlestick making, is unjust and is definitely not a free market situation.

[Davy Crockett]

Both sides win instead of one side winning on deals

[Miradus]

Just weights and measures, if you will. I know what I'm getting as opposed to a government stamp telling me it's alright because some bureaucrat got paid off.

[Miradus]

Most of us realize that we need a government, because hearts are still wicked and deceitful.

Whenceforth shall these angels who comprise the government be drawn, if hearts are wicked and deceitful?

[Green Man]

Whenceforth shall these angels who comprise the government be drawn, if hearts are wicked and deceitful?

Most of those bureaucrats of whom you speak are just doing their jobs, not looking to screw anybody. There's actually a team that looks for and tracks down the salmonella in the lettuce in your store. that's just one example. They go into action when there's an outbreak. They prevent a lot of people from getting sick. There are countless others. None of them want to get screwed, either.

They're not angles, to be sure but neither are they wicked and deceitful.

[PatDaly]

Most of those bureaucrats of whom you speak are just doing their jobs, not looking to screw anybody. There's actually a team that looks for and tracks down the salmonella in the lettuce in your store. that's just one example. They go into action when there's an outbreak. They prevent a lot of people from getting sick. There are countless others. None of them want to get screwed, either.

They're not angles, to be sure but neither are they wicked and deceitful.

The guards holding the Jews were just doing their jobs as well. Funny, you say keep us safe, yet the very Government that "protects" you promotes the mega factories that produce Salmonella among other bad things. Did you ever wonder how we managed to not kill the whole world before our protectors saved us?

I suggest you look at the way things were done prior to our "protectors".

[dmatic]

Whenceforth shall these angels who comprise the government be drawn, if hearts are wicked and deceitful?

I suppose we can imagine what the world would be like with no governments. Israel and Judah had both good and bad kings.