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There's no such thing as a “competitive market” in the real world.


Global commodities are not competitive?


What commodity isn't ruled by intergovernmental agreements, a cartel, a monopsony or something else?

Please name just one.


Gold


Gold isn't really a commodity. It's mostly used and traded as an asset.


Yes there is.


You first have to agree on a definition of free in this context. When Adam Smith was writing the Wealth of Nations most of the transactions in the market were between entities with more or less comparable power. Local people bought stuff from local suppliers. This is very much not the case any more when it comes to transactions involving private individuals on one side and corporations on the other.


This is true but beside the point. I don't care either way what you count as a "free" market or whether such a thing exists, you can just say that health insurance is less free than almost any other market.


Name a single one then.

It's funny to see that this was my most downvoted comment ever on HN.

Looks like blasphemy against the “free market” religion isn't tolerated here.


All the other kinds of insurance


Ah yes, like the health insurance market, so competitive it took a CEO murder to fix abusive practices from the dominant actor.

How compelling of an example, really.


To clarify, "other kinds of insurance" means not health insurance




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