In a free market, buyers are protected from abuse from sellers by the presence of other sellers, because they have a choice. Sellers are protected from coercion from buyers by the existence of other buyers.
Employers are protected from coercion from employees by the presence of other potential employees; and employees are protected against tyranny from employers by the presence of other employers.
When there are monopoly’s, private or governmental, that’s when people get pushed around with no alternatives.
What markets do you have no choice or very little choice in?
This is an interesting thought. Our company grew out of an insurance restoration background. One aspect of that market is the inability to say “No” to a potential customer. You often live or die by the referrals given to you by an insurance company. Occasionally you would encounter a customer where your “Radar” would tell you to not engage. They were pushy, unreasonable, and you could forecast that engaging with them was going to lead to a great deal of heart ache and very little return on your investment of time……But, you could not say “No” or the insurance adjuster / program that referred you customers would stop providing you leads.
It has been refreshing to work in the market served by Dr. Energy Saver where we can identify these types of customers and tell them that we are not their company. People who call up on Monday, want the lowest possible price and demand that the job be completed by Wed are not our customers. It feels great to be able to tell them that and walk away from what would not contribute to our goal of making happy customers and a profit for our efforts.
Let’s not forget why unions started in the first place. Not because the employees wanted to risk themselves to create these networks but because the free market treated them terribly and working conditions were dangerous. The US system and any other free market system is a balance between legislation to protect consumers and businesses themselves (think about the ’08 bank disasters) and allow enough room for innovation. There are loads of examples where free market, with no governmental controls results in dirty environments, harsh working conditions and less freedom.