Quote:To Malabar and flsprt, ok I can concede that the prior to the aca, the system was also not a free market. But my point remains that consolidation is not something new that only happened after the aca.


I posted a link to the sec filing of subsidiaries of cardinal health, this has been going on for decades.


This idea of a free market, in my opinion, is like that boy robot searching for the blue fairy in AI... it doesn't exist in the real world.


A society sets up the rules for commerce in order to protect the interests of the society. Therefore, the idea of a true free market doesn't and will never exist in the real world.


I though we should start discussing something that could actually occur... a fair market.


A fair market, in my mind, would be a situation where small businesses are protected and incentivized. A fair market would stop consolidation. A fair market would protect national business from moving to where cheap labor can be exploited, where national manufacturing can compete here in the usa. Level the playing field, and then let competition determine winners and losers.


At least we can all see that the current economic system is not a fair market or a free market...