Have you ever driven down the freeway and while looking at all the cars thought, 'Wow! This is an excellent example of free market economics at work!' Of course you haven't. That would be wierd, and it was exactly the thought I had while traveling back from Raliegh with my friend.
There are so many cars, and so many destinations, some destinations lots of people go to, and others are rarely ever visited, but somehow everyone gets to go exactly where they want to go. Its like magic! Without any grand coordinator or complex government run traveling system, people get where they need to go.
Instead individuals supply themselves with their own cars and depending on where they want to go buy gas, repairs, and meal plans. They plan their personal paths on their time, not on a time set by another, but one that specifically works for them. This is a surprise reflection of the free market system. Replace locations with products and you'll see it!
Individuals buy what they want, and those supplying their products produce what they need.
Of course its not a perfect analogy, but it is there. I'd love to see yalls thoughts on this comparison. And next time your traveling the roads, maybe you'll have a wierd economic thought like me 😆!
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Even the mistakes are useful, there are accidents and sometimes they are tragic but most of the time plans work out and we do not stop driving or give up our cars but acept that life is imperfect and no system will fix that so we go for the one with the trade offs we are willing to accept.
Hey Patrick, your analogy with the cars and the free market economy are actually pretty good. I enjoyed thinking about it and actually realized that you are right about a free market. The way you described people being allowed to go and do what they want with the cars is perfect representation of the fact that we too can do that with money. I look forward to more analogies from you in the future.
I could not agree more with this idea. You describe the free market precisely. We have the freedom to make those choices on our own when we want to, but still contribute to a somewhat healthy economy. We do not have to consult someone in order to drive where we want or get gas where we want etc..
It makes sense to me and I love that you were thinking about economics on the way back to Regent. Your explanation kind of reminded me about the invisible hand video that we watched in class, and I was able to relate to it a bit more than I was with the bread. It is defiantly interesting to think about how we all are heading in different directions but may make similar stops along the way. There are even times that it can get scary, like when you miss a turn or even go down a new turn and you wonder if you are going to come back alive. In economy there will be times when people miss an opportunity or even decide to try something new and that can be scary. It is crazy were you can look in the world today and connect it to something like economics.