Yes, you're entirely correct. The problem with free markets is they produce too much wealth. The citizens get rich, uppity, demand more power, then revolt. Governments and industrial Czar's don't like that. They cherish their power monopoly. So they introduce restraints on the free market, sell them as desirable, then have academic turds indoctrinate their students with it. After a generation, it's all people know and they don't question their reality. Academics are just as naive and obedient, kept in-line through peer pressure and accreditation. So yea. Economics is often twisted into a pseudoscience to rationalize the status quo. It's not that we have the best system. We have the best system for the people WHO OWN and CONTROL the system. Central Banking and Progressive Income Taxation were imports from Marx's Communist Manifesto. Why did Marx pen them? Because they give the State near total control over the financial lives of it's citizens. Which is why our "freedom-loving" Government adopted them. They want that same control. Same with our banking system. It's a joke we even pay interest on OUR money we lend to the Government. But, again, our system is set-up to benefit a few at the top: Bankers and Government. And then it's sold to the idiots as a blessing so we don't upset the fleecing they give us, day in. Day out. To answer your question, the best system is one that maximizes wealth creation for everyone. Not the scumbag few at the top. In my opinion, that system is: 1) Free market 2) Private property rights 3) Rule of Law 4) Flat consumption tax (no income tax) 5) Stable money (gold or commodity backed) 6) Market-determined interest rates 7) Government regulation limited only to environment 8) Small, Constitutionally-limited Government with non-interventionist foreign policy. 9) A credible military deterrent It's remarkable that contemporary economics goes so far as to lie about the true origins of wealth creation. We're told: land, labor and capital. Bullshit. Land, labor and capital don't get together unless the entrepreneur is confident he will reap what he sows. Entrepreneurs must be assured they will keep what they produce. Private property rights, a fair court system, low taxes and stable money do just that. We're not taught the real ingredients of wealth creation, in part, because our political system actively finances dictators who, by their very definition, are lawless. Expropriation and currency destruction is the norm in those shitholes, which punishes work and investment. So people don't work that hard, save or invest. This is one means of economic warfare and how the West keeps much of the third-world impoverished. Our Elite don't want us to catch on. So they give 200 million in foreign aid. Then turn around and give that same dictator 2 Billion. Marketing magic. This way, they look like hero's to the bleeding-heart sheep while they kill the seed before it grows. Economic warfare. That's not to say America and Europe is responsible for all poverty. Look at China before Mao opened it up to the West: dirt poor. The Communist Party was the ultimate authority. The Court system was a joke. Private property rights didn't exist. And State-owned combines dominated industry, which were heavily subsidized. There was no way in hell the average China-man could make a dime, let alone keep one...unless they were politically connected. So the vast hoards of Chinese didn't work that hard or invest in anything substantial. Why bother? Same with India. Africa is a complete mess. Cuba, great example. Soviet Russia, great example.
Excellent. Sometimes I want to believe I live in a better world. Reality sometimes overtakes human psychological abilities to accept it. Most people saw 'Matrix'. Yet most would refuse to see how we live in a similar world.