> Open competition in the free market means inferior companies lose but the consumer wins. <
As a conservative I want to believe that. But consider this.
A few years ago I was watching a news story about an American company that made door locks for cars. And the owner was darn near crying. He said that the Chinese had entered the market, and were selling door locks for less than it took for his company to make them.
The Chinese locks weren’t as good as the American ones. But they we good enough. So the owner had only two options. Either go bankrupt or move production to China. And he was almost crying because he saw his employees as family.
Repeat this for industry after industry. Nope, I can’t call this a free market. It is something else.
Why? First of all understand the basic meaning of "Free Market" - which means FREE from government interference.
Was this locksmith plying his trade free from the feds interference? Hardly.
First of all, unconstitutionally government-protected unions - did he have that problem?
Next, unconstitutionally government-mandated, economy-killing, business-killing "minimum wage". Government interference here has made it very hard for American companies to compete in the open market.
Next, economy-and-enterprise-killing suffocating mountains of unconstitutional and illegal government regulations that kills our competitive edge.
China is NOT the problem.
The mostly unconstitutional federal government is the problem and 800-pound gorilla in the room that everyone igores.