(December 9, 2013 at 12:54 pm)Tiberius Wrote: You don't get to vote for the heads of companies, but the point of the free market is that companies are supported by their customers. If enough of their customer base care about their conduct, it hurts their business.
One of the reasons Wal-Mart acts with near-impunity is because the company has no competition on its level. How does the free market regulate itself against monopolies? What resources do people have in the 'free market' when you support a company because you have few or no other options? One of the reasons Wal-Mart is as successful as it is is because they open stores in smaller, rural places where there are a: no competitors of any appreciable size which will long survive their presence and b: people who are mostly on the poor side and would have to travel a too far a distance to patronize a serious competitor such as Target or Kroger.
And, if you have a scenario where you pay for the services of law enforcement, how do you make it so that the law being enforced isn't the law of the highest bidder? What would realistically stop Wal-Mart from using the law they own to crush competition?
