Let's take this at a basic level: if someone in a free market system takes something, they do so via one of several means:
- They exchange something - usually currency - for it at a value that the market bears. Priced too high, the goods or services won't be sold or bought in sufficient quantity. Priced too low and one runs the risk of overselling beyond capacity (i.e. shortages of product), one violates the mandate from the company's shareholders and misses creating a better return on their investment, etc.
- It is given away for free - well, there is generally no such thing as a "free lunch". Largely things given for free are incentives. They can be part of an advertising campaign intended to raise the market's awareness of the product or service or maybe an effort to create interest in the product. It could be a "hook" to try to get the consumer interested in the service/product.
- It is stolen - shoplifted for a physical product, acquired thru fraud or deceit for a service or embezzeled from a company. Regardless, this option is illegal and should be prosecuted and no one on either side of the aisle is debating that.
Yes, there are bad elements, criminals, evil people in corporate America. Yes, they will take advantage of people. But this is a severe minority of the free market. There are bad elements in many industries that the current administration isn't focusing on. Corporate America is the wealth engine for the country. Damaging that with increased regulations that slow economic growth to try to address problems, some of which stem from government intervention into the free market system (i.e. pressuring credit agencies to artificially and temporarily raise credit scores of individuals to allow riskier mortgages) is not the way forward.
Twisting and spinning what happens in corporate America by those who don't understand it - largely because the education system in America doesn't teach basic ecnonomic principles and understanding - and have never or rarely worked in that environment is laughable. And we should all be laughing next November when they still don't get it and they don't get the office to try to keep propagating this crap.
