Art and Business (Volume 2)
I love the concept of the free market. Goods and services bought and sold within an unconstrained system, driven by forces of supply and demand and innovation and accessibility.
If you want something you can buy it. If it doesn't exist then you can produce it and sell it. Everything can also be made better or more efficient or less expensive, thereby making it more attractive in the marketplace.
By selling things for more than they cost to produce, individuals and organizations generate wealth. Profit is a strong motivator. It drives creativity and innovative solutions to satisfy the needs and wants of humanity.
The desire to improve communities, fix problems and help people is also a strong motivator. Regardless of the potential for profit, some are driven by the opportunity to be a positive influence on the world.
The concept of the free market is a grand, self-regulated exchange that holds all of this together. But that’s not how it works in reality.
Although I truly believe that most people are honest and good, there are plenty of selfish people in the world that look to take as much as they can. They pursue goals that clearly harm others. They exploit the system.
Over time the free market becomes no longer free, as corrupt and powerful individuals and organizations dominate.
In a free market, you can do as you please, even if your motives are selfish or harmful. And the free market doesn’t necessarily punish those that are selfish or harmful. In fact, sometimes they are given great rewards.
My problem with the free market is that it doesn’t have a moral center.
I believe in the golden rule, and how important it is to treat others fairly and to give more than you take.
I believe the free market should explicitly encourage people to be helpful and not harmful to humanity.
If you have wealth or power, you should be generous and judicious and fair. That’s the way you’d want to be treated if you were on the other side.
Everyone should strive to be trustworthy and kind and diligent and resourceful in all of their dealings with others.
A free economy with one simple constraint: treat others how you would like to be treated.
Maybe it’s naive to suggest this, but I think a great first step would be to give it a new name.
The golden rule free market.