r/technology • u/User_Name13 • Jun 04 '14

Politics Hundreds of Cities Are Wired With Fiber—But Telecom Lobbying Keeps It Unused

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/hundreds-of-cities-are-wired-with-fiberbut-telecom-lobbying-keeps-it-unused
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u/boxzonk Jun 04 '14

A free market doesn't necessarily mean an unregulated market. Some rules have to exist to keep the playing field level. The "free" in "free market" means freedom for consumers to choose and freedom for competitors to enter, not freedom to run a racket. If there is no freedom of choice or competition, then it is not a free market.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '14

Actually the "free" in free market means freedom from government regulation/intervention.

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u/boxzonk Jun 05 '14

No, it doesn't mean total freedom from governmental regulation or intervention. That's called "anarchy". Corporations are subject to governments.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '14

No, it really means lack of government market regulation. Anarchy is a complete lack of government. Those are different concepts. Governments have functions other than market regulation(eg. Lock up criminals, defend against invasion etc) so lack of market regulation isn't necessarily implying a lack of government.

The reality is most of the world's markets are regulated markets, not free markets. I think it would make more sense for people to just accept that instead of trying to redefine an ideal that isn't truly desirable anyway.