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Comment by shlurpy | Hacker News Reader

Food and shelter clearly aren't solved by the free market, or malnutrition and homelessness wouldn't be so prevelant. It just moves the problem to someone or somewhere else, and has to be augmented by public funds to keep the problems from exploding. And transportation isn't even close to a free market... when is the last time you traveled somewhere entirely on private unsubsidized infrastructure? You can't even leave your driveway.

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> Food and shelter clearly aren't solved by the free market ...

That's shifting the goalposts and not what I said. They are mostly solved (along with other issues) by free markets. Most people get their food and shelter that way, and the market generates most of the wealth needed to feed and shelter the others.

The community problem--of how the "rest" of the people get their food/shelter/transportation--is not solved via markets. "Most" isn't good enough. "Most" of the sidewalks in SF don't have feces on them. So with the free market approach, you could already say there isn't actually a problem.

Free markets have a great time servicing 80% of the people with 20% of the resources and then pocketing the rest of the resources as profit. Community solutions need to be able to service 100% of the community. It's like the "last mile" problem of economics. "Sorry, it's not profitable for the police to protect your neighborhood" is unacceptable.

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