We too often pit free-wheeling markets against big-government communism. It isn't one or the other. We don't even live in a cocktail, eg, 60% free-wheeling markets + 40% big-government communism.
It's all about particulars. Crucially, it's about why we choose these particulars rather than those particulars. The world is not a one-line drawing. Free-Wheeling Markets vs. Big-Government Communism is not what's playing out before us.
For example, a strong social safety net makes purer capitalism more achievable. It isn't one or the other, or one obstructing the other, or some ratio mixed; here we observe a counterintuitive interaction. Counterintuitive yes, but it makes perfect sense to anyone who studies games and understands the metaphor of the "magic circle."
There must be some kind of method to this madness. We cannot just rely on God to sort the globe out for us. The famed invisible hand of trade patterns is not magic. It is actually complex cause and effect, which we can trace and harness and influence.
Can? Must.
