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Comment by jpadkins | Hacker News Reader

hong kong vs. pre-market reform china, south korea vs. north korea, 18th century US vs. 18th century mexico, cayman islands vs. cuba, singapore vs. jakarta

there are many examples of the more free market society doing better than its counterparts.

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South Korea, 18th C US and Singapore are hardly examples of "free markets", but much more of capitalist state planning and intervention.

The USA was not a planned economy, but much more of a free market. South Korea and Singapore are very much free markets for most goods and trade.

A great deal of South Korea's growth can be attributed to the 1960-1989 military dictatorship.

And 'free market' isn't synonymous with 'libertarian' anyway.

In fact a free market implies all kinds of social mechanisms to set and enforce ground rules. All the examples upthread had very strong state control.

Yes there are social mechanisms in the honest use of the word- that is, when someone proves to be a scammer they lose business in a free market. But otherwise a free market is an unregulated market. "very strong state control" is the opposite of a free market. That's central planning, and despite the name "Socialism" there's not much social about it because it does not benefit society, but it benefits the people who dictate prices (namely government bureaucrats.)

It pretty much is these days with the sharp turn towards fascism that both the left and the right have taken. Remember, fascism is not about racism, but about absolute government control over the economy. Obama has effectively nationalized several major industries, such as health care and the auto industry during his two terms. That's fascism.

Those really aren't examples of libertarian ideology.

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