Early markets were strictly regulated and limited. The present free market is an historical anomaly which arose as the result of particular political interventions. Salusinszky also challenges Hugh Mackay on the issue of wealth distribution. What a short memory Salusinszky must have. Left to their own devices free markets have failed to redistribute wealth, leading to the collapse of those very markets - while the few get richer chasing profits, workers are laid off and no longer have the money to keep the economy turning over.
Redistribution of wealth is necessary if the market is to survive.
The principle of such redistribution is the common good, something free market ideologues have long discarded. Neil Ormerod, Catholic Institute of Sydney, Strathfield, March 12. Heart attack Australians who support efforts to halt the destruction of Afghanistan's ancient Buddhist statuary should be equally concerned with their Government's idea of what should be preserved at taxpayers' expense. One of the prize exhibits in the new National Museum is the decomposing heart of a horse. The memory of Phar Lap's achievements may be sacred in a country which worships sport and gambling, but if this ghoulish relic belongs anywhere it is surely in the private collection of some Michael Jackson-type weirdo.