Sowell on the political vulnerability of free markets...

Thomas Sowell is right again in part II of III or more:

One of the beauties of an economy coordinated by price movements is that nobody has to understand it in order for it to work.

If vast new iron ore deposits are discovered tomorrow in Timbuktu, 99 percent of the people on this planet may be wholly unaware of it -- and yet the prices of everything from paper clips to automobiles would begin to decline, from Singapore to Seattle. Moreover, people around the world would adjust their behavior in response to this event that they know nothing about.

Many people who were not sure about buying a new car might decide that they could now afford one at the new lower prices. People who were thinking of buying wooden desks could begin to reconsider, when they discovered that steel desks had become much cheaper than they expected.

In short, the whole world would adjust their economic behavior in response to a discovery that most people were wholly unaware of.

This economic benefit of price-coordinated markets is also its biggest political vulnerability. If people don't understand what is happening, politicians can tell them anything -- and get their support to take actions that look good, even when the consequences will be counterproductive...

The rest here.

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