And these prices convey useful information to everyone in the market about what products are in demand in the rest of the world. At the same time, private ownership of the means of production permits the acquisition and hire of resources and labor for the production of goods that consumers may desire to purchase. The competitive bids of entrepreneurs for the purchase of those means of production generate market prices for the necessary resources. These prices enable businessmen to evaluate the relative value and profitability of using means of production in alternative ways. They provide the means to determine which products to produce in the economically least- costly manner.
Men are free to make their own choices.
Market prices that arise out of those choices enable each individual to acquire and share information about what others desire in the market. The market provides the method by which people can make their own free decisions in an economically efficient manner. The entire process redounds to the benefit of society as a whole. And it does so by abolishing private ownership of the means of production and eliminating peaceful, voluntary exchange. The socialist planner, therefore, is left trying to steer the collectivist economy blindfolded.