What Free Market?

Here’s a letter to The Wall Street Journal:

Editor, The Wall Street Journal:

Andy Stern’s December 1 op-ed, “China’s Superior Economic Model,” blames America’s free-market fundamentalism for its economic troubles.

If America is indeed a free-market fundamentalist nation, it sure has a funny way of showing it. Federal, state, and local governments combine to spend roughly 40 percent of GDP. Washington indirectly spends another 12 percent of GDP by forcing businesses and consumers to comply with $1.75 trillion worth of federal regulations.

In his eagerness to attack free markets, Mr. Stern has confused the mixed economy’s crony capitalism for the real thing.

Ryan Young
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Washington, D.C.