Reply #53: There is no place in the world where markets are totally free,

[Brucey]

and nearly everyone agrees that that's a good thing. The question really is how many restrictions and where to apply them. Even the US has a number of reasonable restrictions on free markets (pollution, monopoly, etc.). When Eastern Europe began opening markets they had great difficulties, many of which continue, because they didn't set up judicial systems to check crime and other problems that quickly developed. Anyway, this thread is not so much about free markets, but more about why it is desirable for the wealthy people in a society to be given free reign to save, invest, or spend. Shouldn't the wealthy contribute taxes that are spent by the masses or by various groups? Why is it advantageous for the rich to be in charge of all the decisions regarding economics?