Comment by CWuestefeld
16 years ago
How can there exist a free market without the guarantee of the protection of private property? Without that you have anarchy
See "anarcho-capitalism": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-capitalism
In an anarcho-capitalist society, law enforcement, courts, and all other security services would be provided by voluntarily-funded competitors such as private defense agencies rather than through taxation, and money would be privately and competitively provided in an open market.
You continue...
> > What, in a free market moral system, prevents slavery?
> The government.
No. Slavery is prevented because the income generated by those would-be slaves is less than the income generated when those people fill the role of "consumer".
Also, if there are non-consensual exchanges, then by definition it is not a free market, but that simply avoids the question...
How do you figure that prevents slavery? It doesn't prevent slavery right now... buying a russian sex slave and making her work 12 hour days in a club seems to generate a lot more income than she would as a "consumer".
I could turn the question around and ask you how the government prevents this, as the foundation of your question assumes that it's not doing so.
It doesn't. I was just curious why you thought the market was any different.
That said: the government does make an effort to prevent it, which I'm not sure can be said for the free market.
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