Socialism isn’t ‘free’

I would like to thank GMT for his eloquent critique of my letter concerning our recent episodes of community pantry thefts. However, I think GMT is making some assumptions which are not supported by what was written in this letter.

First, when GMT talks about my “beloved, mythical free market”, I think readers should know that I never used the words “free market” in the letter which GMT assails. Those were GMT’s words.

I said “an open market for human talent” and I used that choice of words because such markets can exist in both perfect competition markets (more like those which GMT alludes to) or in more imperfect competition markets.

My letter also never really advocated any particular economic system except, perhaps, a multitude of possible systems include open markets for human talent.

GMT is technically correct when he says there is no such thing as any entirely pure market, but here we really are talking about an issue of semantics because, in a human world, nothing is perfect.

Respectfully, such an extreme standard as “not perfect enough” could be used by virtually anyone to shield any target from just and fair criticism, including the upper classes whom GMT subsequently painted with a rather broad brush.

Finally, I think it is nice that the folks in Scandinavia are supposedly happy and I wish them well. But I don’t want to wait 90 days to have an operation (Swedish Law), only next to pay 60% in local and state taxes (Denmark and Sweden).

To me, these Scandinavian laws and taxes reveal that people only really become equal under socialism because they all eventually wind up becoming poor together ... and there is nothing “free” about that market.

JASON A JELLISON