Debate: Which side Government or No government
Side: Government society

They only need to be informed of their demands, and have accurate information as to the characteristics of the goods they purchase, for the free market to work reasonably well (better than government intervention). Your ignoring most of my point from my post. In a free market, all other actions of business (not just product price and quality) must also be regulated by consumers because there is no government (product safety, food safety, environmental protection, business ethics, etc). If the consumer is not considering these things, bad things will happen. How does the consumer get informed of these things? I think the Walmart shopper is uninformed because I don't think they have taken the time to be informed. I think most Walmart shoppers will say "it's cheap and convenient" as their reason for buying product X.and? Whose responsibility is it to make sure you know what you are buying, assuming that the advertizing is truthful?Right, it's the consumers responsibility. Are you prepared for the aggregate effect of all the consumers to decide the quality of your local security company? It's one thing for the "sheep" to pick cheap Chinese socks, it's another thing when they are picking your "law" (security, arbitration, insurance, etc). 10% of the population that does have time/energy to research every pair of socks they buy may have a "desire" to change the market, but their "voting with their wallet" is overruled by the masses just trying to survive their $100/week life. Truthful advertising, that's funny!! ;) In a free market does advertising have to be truthful? Doesn't the business have the right to make any claim they want about their own products? I mean the market will weed out false advertising...So here is part of the problem. The businesses will not only stretch the truth about their own products, but they will stretch the truth about competitor products. Competing "product magazines" (owned by the parent companies of the same business they are rating) will be awash with false claims. The consumer will not know whats truth or not. Even today most product reviews are done because of a "relationship" between the reviewer and the company but the consumers can't see all the connections.By what right do you decide what is best for another? Or to impose your idea of what is best for their community?The government does not have to decide everything, all it has to decide is whats bad for everyone: You can't pollute, you have to make some effort to keep your meat safe, if you want to work on the electrical system in someones house, you have to be qualified to do so, etc. Once the basics are covered, the market is "free" after that. These laws were not made up for no reason. They were made because men, in the pursuit of money, will break these "common sense" rules over and over.Labor is a market good, just like everything else, and is traded as such. It is subject to the laws of supply and demand.Yes, but unlike other goods, labor IS "the society". If it gets manipulated one way or the other there is revolution, or millions starve. It can't just fluctuate up and down like the price of a dozen eggs. Labor is at a distinct disadvantage. It's not mobile and can't efficiently just move around finding the optimal opportunities. One laborer has no leverage over the business and is in a much weaker position. Common sense (and history) shows what happens to labor over time. Just look at labor in the US now. What will happen in a free market when technology replaces all physical labor with machines (probably in 50 years)? I think we will need government intervention to make some serious changes about how economies and society works.Another thing comes to mind when thinking about this topic. My whole argument is that power and money concentrates and this hurts the people and labor in particular. Doesn't it seem like the future, even in the US is the big box store? The trend is relatively new and I don't see any reason it will reverse. This is the problem with concentration. It's hard to concentrate, yes, but to reverse is almost impossible. If Walmart and Home Depot get much bigger (can you say Super Walmart) how can most other retail survive? What happens when the entire economy or running on 20 big box stores (2 for durable goods, 2 for medicine, 2 for retail, etc). The American dream of "opening a business" won't be an option for 90% of the markets. What happens to the worker when there are literally only 10 employers in most markets? Concentration of power and money is already happening and it's not ONLY because of the government. It's mostly because it makes for good and efficient business. The problem is it destroys the society eventually. Perfectly legal. Perfectly efficient. Society still destroyed. Government must and will prevent this conclusion.