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The Free Market Warrior, a kiosk selling "Impeach Obama" bumper stickers in a Charlotte mall is having his lease canceled according to the Charlotte Observer. Owner Loren Spivack puts the blame on liberal politics.
“It’s really unfair that both I and my employees are being chased out of here for purely political reasons,” he said.
But both Spivack and the Charlotte Observer one crucial flaw in this story of Big Brother running rough shod over the little guy. Namely that the decision came not from any government official or party committee, but from the owners of the mall themselves. It’s the mall that is canceling Spivack’s lease, which would make this a business decision, not a political one. Did the politics of the mall owners come into play? Possibly. Was this primarily motivated to avoid bad publicity? Without a doubt. However as a true "Free Market Warrior" Spivack ought to support a company’s right to make its own decisions. The mall owners thought the Free Market Warrior kiosk would negatively impact their business, so they got rid of him. That’s the essence of a Free Market. But instead of being a true defender of the faith, Spivack for some reason calls the decision political. News flash, the Free Market isn’t a Conservative Fairy Godmother who delivers nothing sweet treats. Sometimes she’s a hideous bitch goddess that will screw you over big time. Spivack just got the same lesson we all endured back in 08.
3 Comments
Ah, yes. The discipline of the unseen hand. The marketplace has spoken.
but there’s a hidden rub here
there is no such thing as ”the free market”, the very cocept is a marketing strategy concieved by corporatists as their method of getting us to vote against ourselves
the free market” is an even bigger fairy tale then ”the fairy god-mother”
you see, the very concept of a monetary system IS a set of regulatons, once you believe in money itself you are no longer a ”free marketeer”
the very concept of ownership is a set of regulations, once you believe in ownership you are no longer a ”free marketeer”
the very concepts of a court system, property rights, judges, ”sanctity of contracts” are sets of regulations, you are no longer a ”free marketeer”
plain and simple, there is no such thing as a free market, it doesn’t exst, it never existed, it can’t possibly exist
whenever you hear someone encourage “the free market” that is code for;
“we don’t want to pay our bills, we want you to pay our bills”
that’s the code, replace “free market” with that and you’ll understand what they are really saying
Thanks, perris!
Any “market” activity beyond wordless barter does involve rules inevitably, together with ways to enforce them. Even wordless barter implies a sort of rule: if both parties aren’t satisfied, there’s no deal.
I’ve long wondered who came up with the phrase, ‘free market’ (Milton Friedman?), and what would have had so many Americans buy into it unthinkingly, despite all the points that you quite rightly raise.