Today in Ottawa a number of so-called pirate cab companies were indicted on charges of operating illegal taxi services in the City. I find this quite amusing. Do you think any mainstream right-wing commentators will complain about these indictments with the suggestion that in a ‘free-market’ anyone should be able to run a cab company if the clients are out there to pay for the service? I don’t think you will hear any such complaints from right-wing ideologues. Instead they will quietly ignore this remarkable, but incredibly common, contradiction in their ideology. This is because they don’t really believe in a ‘free-market’ at all. A real ‘free-market’ would be one in which anyone could practice as a taxi driver, or a physician for that matter, and it would be up to the buyer to determine whether the person selling this service is legitimate and trustworthy.
The fact is that, with the exception of a few extremists, no one really believes that markets can self-regulate or function at any practical level without extensive regulations and control. But right-wingers constantly want promote the idea (and the illusion) that somehow they are committed to a free-market. Instead, what the right-wing is committed to is extensive regulations that are targeted at aiding certain kinds of companies, producers, and service providers. And this selectively regulated market approach is designed to make big money for big capital and leave average people to wallow in poverty.
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