THE INVISIBLE HAND-FREE MARKET MYTH

For the conservative pundits, ill-informed talk show hosts, and the remaining Flat-Earth republicans still clinging to the idea that "free markets" are the path to prosperity, this comic offers a nice response to those still hanging on to the magic of the "invisible hand" argument.


In brief, the "free market" approach is based on a theory that argues that if we allow "rational" market players to do what they want that all of the needs of society will be taken care of, as if an "invisible hand" were moving people and events to a harmonious end. No government intervention will be necessary if we allow "free markets" to work their magic (or so goes the argument).

In this world, Bambie's mother doesn't die, love conquers all, and George Bush is a man of integrity.

In the real world, what we got instead, as we have seen since the middle of September, were a bunch of very stupid and greedy people creating an incredibly complex web of toxic market garbage that few people understood (or understand, even today). To be sure, a few people got rich in the process. But the "free market" of deregulation, debt, and bailouts has ended up giving America (and the world) a very "visible" back hand. This comic captures the events nicely.

- Mark