Free markets are not a fair system of resource allocation and were never intended to be such, they are about efficient resource allocation. Having eg. a government involved might lead to a fairer outcome but efficiency will take a hit
> No claim is made by anyone to the contrary
The comment I replied to stated "fair" resource distribution and I claim it is most definitely not about fairness
Edit: Line break
If you own something, how would it be fair for the government to have any direct say on what you should do with it?
It depends on the kind of property, as there might be very legitimate reasons for the government (representing the people in democratic nations) to have a direct say what you are allowed do with it. You might own a lake or a spring that's important for the population. You might own a factory where government dictates how clean the sewer runoff needs to be. Would that be unfair?
I stated below that it is all about balancing interests, as I view every kind of extremism (that includes free market maximalism) as at least counterproductive, if not outright harmful
Fairer for the supporters of a government that is. Even in a modern democracy a government is really just supported by a small majority ruling over a large minority. That does not mean that democracy has failed but it heavily implies the government power needs to be limited to a minimum in order for a free society to thrive. _That's why_ the lesson learned and applied by "neoliberalism" has always been meddling with economic forces is a sure road to serfdom (to quote the young F.A. Hayek which Thatcher's politics was always inspired by). It's never been about suppressing the poor. To the contrary. (Even Hayek argued in favor of small social security net.)
The error of so-called free market proponents, is that they want the government to set up an unconstrained optimization problem. The market will find some kind of optimum, but without intelligently designed constraints (i.e., regulations), there's no guarantee that optimal profitability should correspond to optimal human well-being.
Next up: Optimization Algorithm ELI5 for the rest
Can’t see the logic here. Government policies by definition affect everyone regardless of affiliation. Unless you’re implying corruption, which is orthogonal to this discussion.
A government is not a single-celled entity. Parlament, city and state legislatures, etc, are setup so that representation of all parts of society (even the non-supporters) can be achieved.