by Jim Rose in economics, liberalism, Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman pointed specifically to the anonymity and impersonal nature of the market as a way that people that would otherwise hate each other if they met on any other basis could instead co-operate, work productively together and become friendly with each other.

“The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what colour people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another.”

Benevolence is not enough. The market process ensures that the unpopular and unpleasant also get fed and have jobs. The market is the basis of social peace as well as the only method by which the masses escaped from grinding poverty.