How free markets die?
Every crisis always is accompanied by a rebuke against the rich, their profit making corporations and naturally formed systemic inequalities (due to lack of competition owing to cronyism, cartels and state monopolies). It historically is/has been the human tendency to not digest the reality during a crisis and point fingers towards the top of the pyramid reflecting an age old indoctrination they have been subjected to by politicians.
In turn, this very sentiment has always captivated modern opportunistic politicians who go on a populist rampage further deteriorating an already declining economy. The domino effect is thus branded as fall of capitalism and victory of an already failed marxist ideology of state controlled minds and resources. The pro-revolution economists of the past, reincarnated as neo-liberals have fallen prey to the Modern Monetary theory today to avoid a revolution and take corrective steps before the infectious thought of jobless people taking to streets.
How much of it owes to a government or its bureaucracy?
Governments and elected politicians (discounting failed states and dictatorships) historically chose to regulate state and non state institutions and control the flow of resources to justify their unwelcome KRA. The indoctrination of the victimhood culture among the masses was part of politicians’ grand scheme to win elections. It’s so deep rooted in the society today, that it’s almost always self-deprecating their own freedom. Governments always behave like those insecure employees during a crisis, trying to project a rosy picture of their otherwise non-tasks to avoid any skeptical view on their employment contracts. If one delves into today’s regulations, it almost always feels archaic owing to the lack of experience within the bureaucracy that jots them down in the first place. Supervision on the other hand takes most of the work away from the government and only leaves enforcement of individual rights, intellectual property, law and order in the society, thus reducing the dependence on the government for jobs. This reduction leaves the government and political class in a precarious position and slashes the otherwise unwelcome intervention in people’s lives and businesses.
Free markets and free minds are naturally wired to tread the path of an ascending sinusoidal wave. There’s prosperity and there’s learning and an ultimate evolution towards a matured trough creating a new crest. By controlling the natural fall through adoption of Modern monetary theory and/or excessive populism to ensure power, we are witnessing a systemic departure from the natural/orthodox form of an economic system. That’s clearly visible in today’s securities markets despite a super negative outlook towards economies. Markets today are driven not on the frenzy of demand from the underlying economy, but bets taken by momentum traders riding on the perennial supply-side blockbuster announcements that Central banks and governments make to justify their positions.
The significance of a policy maker’s role in propping up sentiment and demand is waning completely as there are no free minds to think and propose policies anymore. We are driven by governments with centralized leaderships who are in-turn driven by bureaucrats with little to no real life experience in handling such situations. The idea of a free mind has been completely replaced by textbook minds which fail to break conventional shackles.
Governments fail to realize that there’s so much that they can achieve within their own selfish bubble by simply improving sentiments rather than go on a populist overdrive, destruction of globalization, over-protectionism and helicopter money. Rightly so, we are in no position to fight back especially during a crisis as this is once in a generation bull-run for governments to assume more power of its people and kill free markets.
It’s true! Enemies of capitalism today operate covertly as policy makers. Principles of free markets are being re-written and whatever is left of true capitalism is being taken to the slaughterhouse. The future of free markets lie in the remaining free minds waiting to be awakened.
