The Illusion of the Free Market

For decades, politicians, pundits, and professors have warned of “late-stage capitalism” — the supposed final act of a system that has run its course. But what if what we’re witnessing isn’t capitalism at all? What if the real story is the collapse of a centrally managed economy masquerading as a free market?

A Market Built on Sand

Today’s economy is increasingly detached from the fundamentals that once defined free enterprise. Instead of production, savings, and innovation driving growth, speculation and subsidies have become the twin pillars holding up an unstable system. Markets no longer allocate resources based on voluntary exchange and real consumer demand — they respond to policy signals, government stimulus, and central bank manipulation.

Every boom and bust now traces back not to the invisible hand of the market, but to the very visible hands of bureaucrats and bankers. The Federal Reserve prints, Congress spends, and Wall Street speculates — all while Main Street struggles to make sense of prices, wages, and debt that no longer reflect reality.

The Valueless Dollar and the Central Planning Problem

When a currency loses its anchor in intrinsic value — when it’s no longer tied to production, labor, or sound money — it becomes a tool of manipulation. The modern dollar is exactly that: a fiat currency inflated and devalued to serve political expedience rather than economic truth. Its worth is propped up by confidence, not substance.

This is not a free market outcome. It’s a predictable result of central planning — of bureaucrats deciding what interest rates “should” be, of policymakers deciding which industries “deserve” support, and of subsidies distorting every major sector from agriculture to energy to housing.

A free market would let winners and losers emerge naturally through competition. Our system instead manufactures winners through bailouts and inflates losers through cheap credit. That’s not capitalism. It’s economic theater — and the set pieces are crumbling.

Why “Late-Stage Capitalism” Is a Myth

The phrase “late-stage capitalism” suggests capitalism has failed. But if capitalism means voluntary exchange, property rights, and market-driven innovation, then we haven’t had real capitalism for decades. What we have is a centrally engineered economy — one where the market’s natural corrective forces are smothered under layers of regulation, stimulus, and speculation.

The inevitable consequences — widening inequality, debt dependency, and market fragility — aren’t proof that capitalism is dying. They’re proof that it’s been replaced. The “late stage” we’re witnessing is not capitalism’s decline; it’s the failure of government intervention pretending to be capitalism.

The Free Market Isn’t Failing — It’s Missing

When left alone, free markets reward value creation and punish recklessness. When manipulated, they reward political favoritism and punish productivity. The result is the hollow economy we see today: an illusion of prosperity resting on debt, subsidies, and speculation instead of savings, production, and entrepreneurship.

To restore stability, we don’t need more planning. We need less. We need to return to sound money, voluntary exchange, and real price discovery — the timeless principles that once made markets strong, resilient, and moral.

The crisis of our time isn’t late-stage capitalism. It’s late-stage central planning. And the only cure is the freedom we’ve forgotten how to trust.