I’m a programmer. I’m also a writer. Put the two together, and you get a yummy stew full of pedantry.
We haven’t had a free market in a really long time. Not since before the Federal Reserve was created in 1913.
Any action taken by government to regulate, manipulate interest rates (What do you think the Federal Reserve does?), or otherwise insert itself into the marketplace automatically removes the ‘free’ from ‘Free Market’.
You can argue for or against the actions by the government, but you cannot still call it a ‘free market’ once that has been done.
If you’re interested in economics, I recommend The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism. It works whether you believe in Government intervention into the market or if you hate it. If you believe in government intervention, then this provides a useful counterpoint. If you hate government intervention, then it gives you evidence and logical reasoning as to back up your reasoning.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming blog posts.