Let the Markets Work....the way they are supposed to

Candidates for the Republican presidential nomination prescribe allowing free market forces to work as critical to curing our economic woes. I agree 100%.

Most of these same candidates ignore the conditions that free markets require to work their magic. Effective free markets need free and open competition among participants. Unfortunately if left to themselves, markets tend toward monopolies undermining the competition that makes free markets effective. Government's critical role is to act as an unbiased referee to minimize anti-competitive practices such as price fixing, collusion, and other barriers to efficient markets and their benefits.

Teddy Roosevelt understood the referee's role when he busted the trusts (monopolies) and called for a "Fair Deal" to allow new and smaller companies to compete on a fairer basis.

Teddy would likely be appalled to see what passes for 'free markets' these days. A handful of "too big to fail" national banks dominate the marketplace and take huge risks with tax payer guaranteed money. A few, very large health care insurers and pharmaceutical companies have been handed huge markets to divide up among themselves. Their customers are either not allowed to bargain for prices or are so disadvantaged by knowledge and regulations that they cannot bargain effectively. Creativity has been stifled by new copyright extensions which limit the size of and access to our public domain for the benefit a few large media companies. Big Oil, Big Defense, Big Airlines....the list goes on, but the thread is the same: competition has become so stifled that our "free markets" are no longer free.

How did this happen? The referee has been bought and paid for. The rules that used to provide for a level playing field have been corrupted to create an unfair advantage to those with the deepest pockets and most access to the national legislative process.

A recent Bloomberg article proclaimed that "the area surrounding the nation's capital is now the richest in the nation". At the same time Federal employment is down, but the number of lobbyist representing the private sector has steadily increased. This well heeled population surrounding the nation's capital earns makes it's living from corporations, industry groups and labor unions who employ them to tailor government policy to their liking. It's a big expense, but also sound investments which provide excellent returns to their investors.

We need to restore our free markets to health by making them level again and reopening them to the competitive forces essential to their proper functioning. How? By restoring the level playing field to our electoral process. The necessity to raise huge campaign contributions requires that both candidates and incumbents be bought and sold by the highest bidder before they take office or if they have a chance at reelection. Even a member of the House has to raise about $20,000 each working day if he or she realistically wishes to stay in office.

If we want more competition in our commercial market places, we need to restore competition to our political market places by instituting government funded election campaigns and reducing campaign periods to several months, not several years. With our legislators and elected officials no longer being elected by a handful of deep pockets, they can act as honest referees to restore competitiveness to our markets.

If our commercial markets are free and open, they can be as effective as these Republican and many Democratic candidates claim.