Written by Walter Hecht   

Free market capitalism, laissez-faire capitalism, Adam Smith’s invisible hand acting to create the greatest good for the most people does not currently exist. Without effective government regulation, competitors tend to merge to reduce competition, letting them raise prices, reduce supply and make more profit. For example, just look at the oil companies and gasoline prices at the pump. What we have now instead of free market capitalism is what I call pickpocket capitalism. Adam Smith’s invisible hand of the market is in all our pockets, stealing cash from our wallets and purses unnoticed, and almost invisibly. Sky high interest rates on credit cards and insurance policies that don’t cover the insured costs are two more examples of the invisible hand of the pickpockets of corporate America. Only effective regulation by the Federal government can protect us from them. The states are too small and diverse to do the job. The ultimate solution of course is to breakup the companies that are too big to fail until they are small enough to start competing with each other once again.