sorry for the stupid questions

[GuerrillaKonShence]

i am sorry for the stupid question, but i am new to economics.

Can someone give me a simple definition for "free market/trade"?

and also why don't marxists like it?

[Floyce White]

"Free market" means that a family of capitalists can own whatever property they can profit from, and the unprofitable properties are owned by the state. The state also owns the properties that no capitalists can afford to buy control of in that particular country.

Karl Marx advocated nationalizations of big business. The petty-capitalist socialist movement advocates that the big-capitalist families who own big business be expropriated with or without compensation. This would cause the mass of petty capitalists to have no bigger rivals, and would enable them to profit as much as possible due to the lack of big-capitalist repression of their business activity.

[anomaly]

The concept of trade is simple. I give you A so long as you give me B. However, imperialist nations obviously have quite the advantage over the nations they colonize!

The 'free market' theory states that the economy can 'regulate itself' with capitalism's mighty 'invisible hand'. What this amounts to is simply that competition will 'regulate' an economy. Of course, this isn't quite accurate. Indeed, the history of capitalism is full of 'shocks, recessions, depressions'...etc.

Then we have capitalism ('free market' capitalism is one theory on how capitalism should function...there are others, of course), which neccesitates the exploitation of workers. Workers produce a certain amount, but are only given a fraction of its value. The rest is pocketed by the capitalist.

Learn by cartoon: http://question-everything.mahost.org/images/work_faster.jpg

I notice that the 3rd box of that cartoon is rather difficult to read. It says "where do you get the money to pay him"


i am sorry for the stupid question
Don't be sorry. There is no such thing as a stupid question. Feel free to post any question(s) you may have.

[Storming Heaven]

The 'free market' is simply a market that has no regulations imposed on it - complete privitisation of industry and no government subsidies or penalties, restrictions etc. Only unbridled competition between capitalists...

'Free trade' is the extension of the free market internationally - the removal of 'trade barriers' such as tariffs, at least in theory. In practice it usually means governemnts from rich countries pressuring those of poor countries to 'open up' their markets (e.g. by removing tariffs, import legislation etc.) while the rich nations don't recpriocate. For example, the government of my country (New Zealand) pressures our poorer neighbours in the Pacific to allow their edcuation system to be privitized (so Kiwi businessmen can make a profit from it!), but wouldn't dream of doing the same in New Zealand!

It think the Marxist problem with the free market is that it creates wage-labour because it leads to capital being accumulated by the wealthiest capitalists. Big firms are able to buy out smaller firms and so reduce the competition that damages their profits - and the best way to be big is to command a large labour force and it's productive power...