Tag: invisible hand

Masking the Free Market

I’ve noticed that dedication to “free market” seems highly correlated to “you made the decision I support” … if we make an a priori assumption that requiring a mask be worn is somehow an infringement of individual liberties (not a stance I take, but accept it for the sake of argument), isn’t each individual’s ability to “vote with their dollars” a main tenant of the so-called ‘free market’?
 
I’m close to getting a Costco membership *because* they’re the only grocery joint around here that was making customers wear masks. It’s out of the way, I don’t think they’ve got the convenient order-online-drive-through-pickup thing, and I have no idea what their vegetarian selection is like. But I hate giving my money to support Giant Eagle’s lax enforcement of actual requirements (employee wearing mask does not mean around their neck) and refusal to require common-sense safety precautions like masks for customers. And that’s the free market. Enough people go one way or the other, the companies will change their stance.
 
And *forcing* a company not to require a mask violates that company-person (thanks, Citizens United) liberties too, doesn’t it?