Part 2:

So blaming the market, makes no sense and does not help us in any way, and may even do damage by misdirecting progressive social activism. The real problem is the political structure within which the economic system develops and operates and within which the rights of different social groups are adjudicated.

You only get rich and poor and an increasing gulf between the two if you have, what Paul Samuelson calls, “bourgeois economics” [J. Ec. Lit., (1971), 399]. The Greeks and Romans increased the gulf between rich and poor by plundering their neighbours. Feudal lords and priests increased the gulf between rich and poor through taxation, early merchants made themselves rich through exclusive rights and in modern times, capitalists continue this practice through the political economy of Capital.

Capital does not need a market to accumulate. It just needs a society and a suitable State. In fact under capitalism, gulfs between rich and poor increase as markets become restricted. If there was a truly free market, capitalism would have disappeared long ago. You cannot make a capitalist profit if there is free entry and freely accessible information.

So we can answer Ted’s question: “The 'marvellous market' is the main cause of our fatal problems – A ridiculous question?” in the affirmative.

However markets can still lead to problems in the absence of bourgeois economics and no one is suggesting that a future society should be based solely on free markets. Humanity is so diverse and challenged by its own growth that markets can never produce the most beneficial outcomes for all. Some form of social regulation and some forms of production based on need not market power are necessary.

Part 3:

Ted also presents Faults 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7, but while he associates these faults with markets, his elucidation generally burrows down to the underlying truth – viz:

Fault 2 – “yield most return on investment.”

Fault 3 – “labour and money into commodities”.

Fault 4 – “transfers much wealth to the wealthy…get an income without working”.

Fault 6 – “define efficient in terms of the monetary return on investment”.

Fault 7 – “a more selfish, mean, unequal, predatory and callous society, focused on individual advancement and beating others in competition”.

None of these are inherent in markets. They all arise from bourgeois economy and the intrusion of anti-social forces arising from the accumulation of Capital.

There are three intrinsic problems with markets. Firstly they produce prices based on opposition between supply and demand which can easily contradict value, and secondly they cannot service the needs of every individual. Finally markets tend to respond more to short-run events and leave the long-run consequences to future generations. Keynesians can be blamed for this.

There are even more problems with markets if the standard of money is corrupted and prices are driven away from value by the impact of providing debt to segments of the population based on differing conditions such as interest rates.