One of the most significant features of the free market is
in the sovereignty of the consumer.
Ordinary people decides for themselves what they will consume and
undertake the effort necessary to produce or obtain it. And so it follows that "the mass"
of the mass market is not a collective that makes decisions collaboratively,
but an amalgam created to give observers the mistaken sense that a group of
people do not function as individuals.
Hence "the market" is an observer's perspective
upon the ways in which individuals produce, consume, and trade with one another
- each by their own volition, though often voluntarily imitating the behavior
of others. Each person decides what he
wishes to consume, what he wishes to produce, and with whom he will engage in
exchanges of his product for the product of others.
Institutions such as corporations are merely a method by
which people organize their productive activity in response to the demands of
other people for things to consume. The
demand of consumers creates the market for goods, and suppliers attempt to
satisfy that demand. In that sense, the
corporation serves the consumer, never the other way around.
It is in this sense that the worker has charge of himself,
which is to say he has authority over his own choices rather than being
subject, serf, or slave to an authority who makes all of his productive and
consumptive decisions for him. In his
consumption, he gives incentive to others to produce for him by offering
financial reward. In his production, he
is servant to others and must produce that which they desire in order to gain
what they wish to pay him for producing it.
From this perspective, it is clear that all revenue of producers is
granted to them by consumers in exchange for service.
The capitalist, who uses his wealth to generate more wealth,
is a servant to the market: he can only increase his wealth by delivering what
others demand at a price they are willing to pay. Granted, there is opportunity for the
cheapskate ad swindler to take advantage by means of deception - but this
cannot be done consistently and sustainably.
The capitalist who fails to actually satisfy the desire of a market will
exhaust the supply of gullible customers.
Such a system is based on the presumption of rational
thought, but has the flexibility to accommodate the irrational. A consumer who spends unwisely and does not
obtain what he actually needs will soon learn from his mistake, and a producer
who invests unwisely and does not make what is actually needed will likewise
learn. Poverty and bankruptcy are the
ultimate ends of unwise decisions, but both are temporary rather than permanent
conditions for the individual who is capable of learning. Said another way, the freedom to decide for oneself
comes with the responsibility to decide wisely or bear the consequences. And ultimately,
to accept such a system requires a basic respect for one's fellow man and his
right to be his own sovereign.
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