[Opinion]Why a Free Market is Better than a Communist Economy - Part 1: Competition In A Free Market

Capitalism is defined by Merriam Webster as “an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods...”. Thus, it is an economic system run by money. That’s it. No added bonuses of “plus virtuous redistribution”, “equity", etc.

by Peter Moon

The first real goal of any company is to create a profit off of whatever they are selling or offering. A company will do whatever it can to in order to make a profit in the end of the day. Some will take more illegal routes (for example the McKesson-opioids drug distribution case.) Others will go the opposite route, using targeted marketing in order to try and get certain groups to come to spend money at their stores (like the Burger King Proud Whopper campaign).

However, what is spawned out of capitalistic competition is what makes it so good. When Apple creates a better, safer, and faster product than Microsoft, Microsoft tries to find a way to make their products even better. A good example was the Xbox One versus PlayStation 4 launch. The Xbox One was originally planned to take focus off of games, to “go beyond gaming”, as one Washington Post article put it. This move allowed Sony to shift their marketing focus to target gamers-and allowed the PS4 to take an early lead in that generation’s console war.

The competition allows companies to outdo each other- most of the time the wars between companies remain what one could call “friendly”. Other times one tries and corners the market-trying to completely buy out the competition.

One interesting example (and one that isn’t as commonly known) is the chewing gum monopoly of 1899. In 1899, William White and several other heads of larger gum makers came together and formed the American Chicle Company. The corporation was basically the Google of its day - and William Wrigley was a small competitor. However, the cornering of the market by the American Chicle Company didn’t kill the competition, as the mega-corp had wished.

In William Wrigley, we found a Donald Trump-someone who took the fight to the competition and took defeats like a boss-and kept on rolling through. This is where the Free Market shows another aspect we don’t usually find in a government-controlled economy - the initiative to grow despite the insurmountable monopolies trying to kill you off. See, what made Wrigley succeed wasn’t the fact that he owned 90% of the market; he succeeded because he got his name out in every way he could. A drive that kept him going until victory was finally achieved.

A free market allows anyone with the initiative to get in on a competitive plane - sometimes one which they will be the smallest player in. In most situations, their competitors have the brand familiarity, the money advantage, and (in some really specific cases) government backing. However, a free market, unlike other market types, allows the small fish in a market sea to grow, compete, and succeed on a level on which in any other would result in their inevitable failure.

All opinions expressed within the contents of this article reflect the views and values of the author, not Politics NOW.