My entire life I have heard people make the case against markets. Markets are inhumane. Markets are harsh. Markets make life hard. We need as a society to mitigate markets as much as possible. Some would go so far as to call markets evil.
There is a whole group of people who believe that markets exist only to make the powerful more powerful and the rich more rich. Though in some cases this may be true, it is not the most important aspect of markets.
Markets, when not manipulated, illuminate truth. How much is your car worth? Stick a sign on the windshield and see if people go for the price. If they don’t your price is too high. If people are lining up at your door to buy your 1992 Civic hatchback, your price is likely too low. One can actually know the worth of ones car just by asking the market.
This is extremely valuable information. It is unvarnished. The market might not tell you what you want to hear, but at least it’s the truth.
Many people, understandably have little use for the truth. Whole cottage industries have sprouted up around helping people actually determine that down is up, that the sky is indeed red, and that the reason the market is telling them that something isn’t valuable is because markets don’t actually tell the truth at all. The fact that a degree in basket weaving doesn’t garner them a million dollars a year is clearly the world acting irrationally. Basket weaving is in fact a highly valuable endeavor-the world just doesn’t get it.
If you really like basket weaving, so much so that your identity is tied up with it, that basket weaving is a fundamental part of who you are, it kind of sucks that the world tells you its just not that valuable an endeavor.
So if you’re a basket weaving major what is one to do? Get a government basket weaving job of course!
I don’t blame people from running from the harsh winds of the marketplace. I have personally been buffeted by these winds many times, and they can take your breath away. But there is a flip side to markets too, which is that you can succeed in them. If you turn your sails to the right angle, what was once a hammering headwind can become a very useful trade wind.
I fear a world where there is no wind. Where some live on the fruitful mainland but the rest of us, must languish in the doldrums on a flat and featureless sea.
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